Rumors of My Demise
by SamNny
Summary: "Three crazies were fated to meet."
1. Prologue

_"You're just like him, you know?"_

"Who?"

_"That one scrawny fuck. The creepy kid with the black hair and immortalizing complex."_

"Johnny..."

_"Yeah, that guy!"_

"What about him?"

_"Didn't he get around to telling you? He's criminally insane."_

"No, but that doesn't surprise me."

_"You're so much alike."_

"I've never killed anyone."

_"Insanity comes in more forms than one. He's criminal, while you're... a manic."_

"Come again?"

_"You'll suffer his fate."_

"Sickness!"

It was as if she spoke in riddles these days. Her twisted humor and disgusting pleasure in my torture made me want to stab something. Comparing me to that deranged monster was beyond insulting! Honestly, calling me a manic. Hah! Am I crazy? Of course. I hear a raspy voice talking to me from a painting I did that came to life. No one else can see or hear her, but she's always there. So... crazy? Yes. Manic? Absolutely not. Like him? I'd kill him and myself before that happened.

Walking down the street, I had never felt so... observed. I got the weirdest looks from everyone and I couldn't figure out why. I looked like most everyone else. I wasn't wearing my pajamas, messy make-up, my hair was brushed and pulled back, my clothes didn't have any holes in them. People were just stupid.

I made it to the street corner and pushed the button for the crosswalk. I shifted around the weight of my two bags of groceries and stood next to some skinny kid with a backpack and a beaten-up old teddy bear. I had to say, I thought it was pretty strange to see a kid like that with such an old toy. What was he, eleven? Twelve, maybe? His clothes looked worn and like they barely fit and his bear was dirtier than shit. Even though I was half tempted to ask him about it, I decided not to even bother with it. I shifted my bags around again as the light changed for us to walk.

I wasted no time getting to the other side and turning the corner. I was so focused on just getting back to my apartment that I didn't even notice the kid following me. Not until he called out for me, anyway.

"Hey lady, please wait!"

I stopped and turned around, eying the kid suspiciously. He ran up to me quickly and held out his hand. In his palm was an apple, and although I didn't understand at first, I took it from him anyway.

"It fell out of your bag when we crossed the street. You'll have to wash it, but it should still be good."

I looked down at my bag and saw a rather large hole in it. The only thing holding everything inside was my now-squished bread. I sighed irritably and shoved the apple in my other bag, not really caring anymore. I was a few more blocks from my apartment and I knew the rest of this trip would be a pain-in-the-ass. Why didn't I just take my car?

I muttered a quick 'thanks' to the kid and stalked off, but pretty soon my bread caved through and the contents of my bag were all over the sidewalk. The kid rushed up to me and started gathering my things. Seeing no hope for the bag, he scooped them all up in his arms, and stood next to me.

"Um... I can carry these, if you want."

I raised my eyebrow, but scoffed and agreed to his help anyway. I signaled for him to come along as we walked in awkward silence. I could feel him glancing at me from the corner of his eyes. He was observing me, too. I wanted to stop and punch him right at that moment, but I didn't. I just stopped and snapped at him.

"What are you looking at?"

He backed away, clearly frightened, and made this weird "squee!' noise. I glared daggers at him, commanding an explanation. His legs quivered and I could vaguely hear him stuttering out a response.

"Y-Y-You look f-f-familiar."

I looked the kid over again, trying to see if there was something about him I recognized. I knew I'd never _seen _him before, but I was getting a foggy memory of a kid that was described to me that seemed like him. I still couldn't put my finger on it, though, but his eyes widened and I think he figured me out.

"You were that lady."

"What?"

"Yeah, I remember you. You grew out your hair. I never got to meet you, but I saw you a few times over at the scary-neighbor-man's house."

Scary-neighbor-man? Was he talking about... no, it couldn't be... Johnny's little...

"You're Todd?"

"Yes, ma'am. Todd Casil. I lived next door to Nny for a little while before he went on vacation. He always called me Squeegee."

He was the little neighbor kid I heard so much about? The one Johnny went on and on about being innocent and always giving him bandages in the middle of the night? Wasn't he like six, though?

I shook my head, remembering that that was a couple years ago now. Of course the kid got older, but it sure doesn't look like he's lost any of his childish charm. I nodded at him, finally understanding the situation. I didn't really know what to say to him, so I just turned and kept on walking. He followed after me and we went the rest of the way to my apartment in silence.

I led him up the stairs and unlocked my door and had him wait outside for me. I set my bag down on my kitchen table and came back to get my stuff from him. As I took everything from his hands, I thanked him again, this time being a little nicer. He smiled at me and waved as I shut the door. I waited and listened for his footsteps to fade away before I put my stuff away.

_"So you finally met him?"_

"What?"

_"Squee? His old neighbor."_

"Yeah. Wait, wait! _Old _neighbor?"

_"Weren't you listening to him at all? He said he __**lived**__ next door to him for awhile before he __**went on vacation**__. That was five years ago and he hasn't been back since."_

"How did I not know that Johnny left?"

_"Because you're too busy living in fear! Think about it! No more sightings of him, no more phone calls, no more people getting kidnapped and murdered on a regular basis. You've been so wrapped up in hiding in this Godforsaken place that you haven't been paying attention to the outside world!"_

"Enough! I don't live in fear! I bought enough mace to blind that creep twenty times over!"

_"In any case, you've met the boy."_

"So what?"

_"You think that happened by chance?"_

"It's called a coincidence."

_"You were never lucky enough for things to be a coincidence. Not even before I became a part of your life."_

"What does it matter that I met Johnny's old neighbor?"

_"Well, you see, he's also part of this puzzle. Like you and like Johnny, the kid's fucked up in the head."_

"..."

_"Johnny was criminally insane. You are a manic. That kid has a mild, but still growing case of psychosis. In other words: three crazies were fated to meet one another."_

"Why?"

Sickness stopped talking to me again after that. I had no trouble believing that Johnny was criminally insane, what with him committing murders and trying to kill me and all. But I know for a fact that I'm not a manic. I don't know what breed of crazy I am, but that's not it! I can't speak for the kid, though. He seemed perfectly normal. Well, actually, no. Most people, especially children, are rude little devils. He was a pretty nice kid. Abnormal as that may be, it didn't mean he had mental problems. Three crazies were fated to meet, eh?

* * *

"A/N: Well, this is the first time in a long time that I've written a JTHM fic. It feels good to be back. Anyway, this is going to be a multi-chapter story, so reviews are going to be extremely appreciated along the way. All I can say, and this is a **stressed** warning, is that I'm not great at updating on a regular basis. If that will be a problem, then stop reading now. This story **will **be finished, I **promise**, but it might not be on a very fast schedule. Just be patient, kay? Anyway... review? Please?"


	2. An Outing

I woke up the next morning in a cold sweat with a skull-splitting headache. As I wiped at my forehead, my dream - no, _nightmare_ - from last night replayed in my head. I was alone in the darkness, left to wander aimlessly for some way out. Sickness appeared before me, ten times bigger than me, and gave me an evil grin. She laughed maniacally like they do in those old cartoons and started reciting bits and pieces from yesterday's conversation. She chanted them over and over again, and I tried to scream at her to shut up, but my voice just wasn't loud enough. I tried to plug my ears, I tried running away, I tried curling up into myself, but nothing worked. She was like a broken record.

So after getting myself all cleaned up and dressed for the day, I was unpleasantly surprised to hear my door being pounded on. I gripped painfully at my throbbing head and flung the door open, already knowing who would knock so obnoxiously. Tenna shoved Mr. Spooky in my face and made him squeak to say 'hello.' I backed away and let her in, seeing as how she wouldn't go away even if I dragged her down the hall and pushed her down the stairs.

"Good morning, Devi!"

She went over to my window and pulled back my ugly curtains and yanked the blinds up. I had gotten over my window and hiding issues a couple years ago. It still bothered me to have them open, but I knew I'd just have to close them after she left. Now I just want to keep myself from seeing the outside world. It's hideous anyway.

"What are you doing here, Tenna?"

"Well that's not a nice way to greet your best friend. I just wanted to come over and check up on you!"

"I don't need checking up on, Tenna. I leave now, you know."

She completely ignored me and began her obsessive tour of my apartment. She checks my kitchen for food and clean dishes, my mail to make sure I haven't been ignoring my bills or anything stupid, my room to make sure I keep it semi-clean, and my laundry to make sure it's... shit.

"Devi, why did you let your laundry pile up like this!"

I knew I forgot to do something yesterday when I went out. I usually drop my basket of clothes off and start a load at the Laundromat before I go grocery shopping. I do all of my outsidely-type-stuff every two weeks. Just because I got over my fears didn't mean I wanted to be social and part of the world again. I only go out when I'm forced.

"This will never do. Honestly, Devi, you're a grown woman. Can't you do your own laundry?"

"Why yes, Tenna, I think I can. I only have been for the past twelve years or so."

"Then what is this?"

She dropped my overflowing laundry basket on the floor and pointed at it like I was too stupid to know what she was talking about. I narrowed my eyes and grit my teeth, doing everything I could to keep myself from exploding on her. Despite the fact that she means well, she's like an overbearing mother that smothers her child. If I wanted to back in an environment like that, I'd move back in with my parents. I sighed in defeat and marched over to grab my basket. She was gonna drag me out by any means necessary anyway, so I might as well go easily.

I trotted down the stairs, not bothering to wait for her. She would follow me and make sure I actually did what I was supposed to. I looked back for a brief moment and saw her walking, a stupid smile on her face and she was squeaking Mr. Spooky while humming some random tune. I really didn't get her at all sometimes.

We made it outside and crossed the street to the Laundromat, entering the rundown building and going to the nearest available machine. I separated my clothes and fished out some change for the first load. As the washer ran, I set my basket on top of it, and turned to her with my hands on my hips.

"Happy now?"

She nodded vigorously and clapped before coming over to grab my arm.

"Now you're going to come with me while that's going."

I didn't even get a chance to refuse before she drug me outside. She led me around, refusing to let go of my arm, and took me to the end of the street. There was some shitty restaurant that she loved and before I knew it, we were already inside and being seated.

"Tenna, what are we doing? I don't have enough money to go out like this."

"Relax, breakfast is on me and Mr. Spooky."

Admitting defeat, I slumped back in my seat and looked over my menu. This place had a lot of things that _sounded _good, but tasted like warm throw up. So I kept it simple and safe, ordering some toast, water, and an egg. I wasn't that hungry anyway. But, of course, Tenna ordered their most expensive item. Some chicken fried steak, pancakes, eggs, bacon, and hashbrown combo. She always used the excuse that she ordered for herself and Mr. Spooky, but he never ate anything.

She started going off about this or that, but I really wasn't paying attention. I just gave her an empty stare, knowing full well that she'd buy it. I tuned back in when our food came and almost hurled when I saw her plate. Everything she had looked like it had been deep fried in three week old fat. My egg didn't look the best and my toast was slightly burnt, but at least it was edible. I had to avert my eyes while she dug into to her "meal." I poked at my egg, taking small bites at a time and drank my water. I eventually settled for slopping my egg on my toast and eating it like a sandwich. I just wanted to not have to look at it anymore.

Tenna continued to talk, still not noticing my lack of attention. Her mouth was full and food was spilling out and I had to put a napkin over my mouth to keep my own food from regurgitating. I kept my eyes on my lap and tried to concentrate on the rest of my day. After I did laundry, I had to get back to the house and paint. My new job was less stressful than working for Nerve, but I still had deadlines. They gave me busy work and small projects, at my request, of course, but little work meant little pay. I wasn't making big bucks before either, but it was twice what I'm making now. I guess the only reason the money even matters is because I've been considering moving.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Tenna slamming her fist on the table and screaming my name. I looked up, not surprised to see that grumpy and irritated look on her face. She always got that way when I ignored her.

"Jeez, Devi, you weren't even listening to me."

"Sorry, but I've heard all of your random chatter before. It doesn't interest me."

"Man, you've become such a cold person. How come you were being so nice to that boy yesterday, but you treat me like crap?"

"Boy?"

"Yeah, that little kid with the red shirt with the smiley face on it. You didn't yell at him. You didn't ignore him. You even told him 'thank you.' I never get that kind of politeness."

"How did you know about him?"

"What, was he a secret or something? I saw him outside your door. I was gonna come bug you last night, but my dinner was burning and I was hungry."

I shook my head. She's one of the only people I know that can leave her apartment with the stove on and come back to find it not burnt down. Honestly.

"Well he was just some strange kid. My grocery bag ripped on the way home and he offered to carry my things. I had no reason to be mean."

"I didn't know you needed a reason."

I glared at her again, but she smiled a goofy smile and folded her hands and rested her chin on them. I could never tell what she was thinking when she made that face, so I sighed and rested my head on the table.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. Come on, your laundry is probably done by now."

"What about the bill?"

"Don't worry about it."

She stood up, slapped a twenty dollar bill on the table, and grabbed my hand. She jogged down the street back towards the Laundromat, but it wasn't long before our waitress poked her head outside and yelled after us. Apparently a twenty didn't cover everything. But Tenna was in mood to listen so we just kept going.

I finished my laundry soon after and we walked back to my apartment. She wanted to stay and hang out for a bit, but I told her I had work to do. She didn't care, though, so I had to force her out. I told her about my deadline and yada-yada and she finally left. I shut and locked my door only to turn around to see Sickness.

_"So... did you have fun?"_

Feeling rather exhausted, I sighed and walked past her.

"No. If you don't mind, I have laundry to put away and a painting to finish."

_"She knows, doesn't she?"_

"Knows about what?"

_"Squee."_

"His name is Todd. Yeah, she mentioned him. Why, are you gonna tell me that Tenna is crazy, too? I'd actually believe that."

_"No, she's sane. Strange, yes, but completely sane."_

"Pfft."

I walked off and shut myself in my room, trying to occupy my mind with other things as I put my stuff away. I heard Sickness tap on the door, but I certainly wasn't going to open it. She laughed and said something or other before she did her disappearing act again.

_"She recognizes him. She's too stupid to be a pawn in this, but even she knows that he's crazy."_

I kicked the door, already knowing that she vanished. What the Hell was she going on about now? Tenna doesn't know Todd. I never introduced her to Johnny, so how could she know his neighbor? Honestly, these mind games made my headache even worse. I shoved the rest of my clothes to the side and got my painting out. A deadline was still a deadline, after all.

* * *

"A/N: Hooray for minor plot development? I just kind of wanted to bring Tenna into the story, seeing as how she is still Devi's best friend. Anyway, the first two or three chapters are updated regularly, and then I kind of start going downhill. So my warning from the prologue still stands. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are loved always."


	3. You Again

Somewhere on the far side of town, a wall cracked and leaked. A sickening mixture of water, saliva, and "paint" dripped on to the squeaky floorboards. How that wall came to be was an unsolved mystery. And what lie behind it was an enigma all its own. The scary thing was that whatever entity lived behind that wall had already been freed once. No one had ever seen it before, minus those who've died by its... tentacle-hand-things. The only survivor and the only one who knew what made it tick was caught in a life-or-death situation at the time of its surfacing. And when he was dying, that creature rendered itself. And when he was dead, it wreaked havoc upon the living. Well, those living in that house. And when Heaven and Hell banished him back to Earth, the monster was resealed. How? Fuck if anyone knows.

It was 3:27 in the morning and I had finally finished my painting. The new publishing company I worked for, BluePrint Publishing, had asked me to do a small piece for some frilly magazine. I had to paint a puppy playing with an empty bottle in some random alleyway. God, it pissed me off! I was never one to paint happy or cutesy things, but I was fortunate enough to be allowed to put my own spin on most of my pieces. Then they threw it in my face that this magazine had a certain image they wanted to maintain and they just wanted a normal picture. Normal.

I wanted to rip my hair out at the ugliness before me. It looked like a puppy. That was a clear, empty bottle. That alleyway looked totally legit. The picture itself was fine. But it _needed_ some darkness. It needed to have some sort of twist on it to make it something real. The color scheme would have been gorgeous with some dark blues, purples, and blacks. Maybe even some grey. I wasn't allowed to make this my own and that's probably what's ticking me off the most. It looked too... too much like every other fake-ass piece of art I see. No puppy is that happy with a bottle. Hell, I've never seen a puppy play with a bottle. And those kids at the end of the alley staring at it? They should be running at it and trying to tie it up and set it on fire. That's what the kids here do. What kind of make-believe world is this?

But I suppose everything always goes back to Sickness. Whenever she fucks with my head, I get more irritable. I curse more, I get irked by the smallest things, and I stress out over stupid shit. I propped up my painting and grumbled and groaned to myself as I kicked my shoes off and crawled in to bed. I would only get to sleep for like two and half hours before I had to get up and go to work. I would walk in, drop off my finished project, and get my next assignment. I suppose that was something to look forward to. Hopefully this next one will be something I'm more accustomed to.

And after my alarm went off, I rolled back out of bed to see what awaited me. I never looked forward to going out, but I knew this was inevitable. I grabbed my painting and slipped my shoes back on while pulling my hair back and grabbing my coat. I felt around in my coat pockets, making sure I had my keys, before I made it outside of my apartment complex. When I found them, I unlocked my beaten-up car and got inside. It smelled musty and rather horrible and I looked around to find the source of the smell to be a two week old, half-eaten box of noodles.

"Tenna."

Throwing the box out, I left my windows rolled down to air out my car as I was driving. It was only a few blocks to work, but I didn't feel up to walking _anywhere _today. So I fired up my car and backed out, almost hitting this old lady behind me. She cursed at me, told me to watch where I was going, and hit the back of my car with her cane. Like it actually made a difference or something.

I took off down the road and pulled in to the parking lot. I shuffled my things around and grabbed my painting and stormed off inside. This trip had better be worth it. I got in the elevator, headed up three flights, and then talked to the receptionist. She told me to go right on in to Mr. Wright's office. So I brushed past her and opened the door.

Mr. Wright was sitting at his desk, shuffling papers around and looking hopelessly displeased. He glanced up when he heard me open the door and waved me in to take a seat. This whole scene always reminded me of my days at Nerve. Especially the day I quit. The good news was that Mr. Wright wasn't nearly as crazy as my old boss; he was just ten times harder to please. Luckily our clients liked my work or he would have rejected every single one of my pieces. Bastard.

"Do you have something for me?"

I uncovered my painting and handed it to him. He took one look at it and cringed in disgust. Although part of me thought it was because of what the painting actually was, but I knew that he would always hate my work. He coughed and set it next to some other artworks and then printed out my next assignment.

"You'll be doing a piece for a critics review on a brand new baking company. He said the place was terrible, so paint some terrible baked goods or something."

I took the slip of paper and stood up to leave. Not that it really matters, but I don't think I've actually spoken to Mr. Wright since my job interview. I guess I've just never been in a situation where it was necessary for me to speak. But it didn't really matter or bother me in the slightest, so I headed out the door and to the parking lot. The paper said my piece was due in four days, but since all I had to paint were some nasty cupcakes, I thought it was pretty manageable.

When I got back out to my car, I saw an oddly familiar mop of black hair walking down the sidewalk. His hair was disheveled, he wore a black and white, short-sleeved shirt, and some dark jeans. His shoes were a plain tan color, matching his backpack, and there was an old teddy-bear sticking out of it... Oh.

"It's Todd."

I don't know why I said anything out loud, but the kid must've heard me, because he looked in my direction, smiled, and waved at me. I pathetically waved back, not sure what else to do, but before I could get in my car and leave, he waltzed on over and started talking to me.

"Good morning. It's nice to see you again."

"Uh, yeah."

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I walk this way to school every morning."

Oh, yeah, it was Thursday. That explains the flock of kids out and about.

I didn't really know what else to say to the kid, so I opened my car door and sat inside. I could feel his eyes on me again, and turned to look at him. I tried really hard not to glare, 'cause for some reason, I just really feel like this kid doesn't deserve that. I tried waiting a few seconds to see if he'd say anything, but he didn't.

"What are you looking at?"

I kind of hoped I didn't sound as harsh as I think I did, but I also kind of didn't care anymore.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just... well... I suppose I have no right to say things like that."

"Say things like what?"

"I was just thinking how rare it is to see someone else that Nny knew that he didn't kill. I don't think he realized it, but I saw a lot of people go into his house, but only a few came back out. I remember seeing you run away."

I was pretty taken aback by that. He's right, he shouldn't go saying things like that. He could stir up some painful memories for some poor shmuck.

"Yeah, that was me."

I was pretty agitated at that point. He might not have been a bad kid, but he did a pretty good job of shaking me up for the morning. Those kind of memories still haunt people like me. I sure as Hell didn't need him to remind me of what happened. So not wanting to snap on the kid, I shut my door and started my car. He took a few steps back, politely getting out of my way, and smiled a small, sad smile at me. And as I was driving away, I faintly heard him say something to me.

"I'm sorry. I'm glad you made it, though."

What. Was. That. Supposed. To. Mean?

* * *

"A/N: Let the waiting begin! I told you guys I'm terrible at updating. From this point on, it's pretty typical to have at least a two week waiting period for the next chapter. Don't be surprised or angry if you see me writing and posting other things on my profile. Just because I'm working on this, doesn't mean I can't write other stories. If I have the urge to write, but not for this, then I won't write for this. I promise that you don't want me to keep adding chapters to this unless I'm in the mood for it. When I write without wanting to, well... this would be a terrible story. I write on a whim, whenever I get the inspiration to. Not because I feel obligated to. Besides, everything else that I write from now until the end will be a one-shot. So fear not - this will be done. I hope you'll keep reading."


	4. Left Behind

Walking home from school that day, Todd couldn't help but feel guilty for making that lady so upset. It was written all over her face and he knew he should have just kept his mouth shut. It was just too weird to be running into "the one that got away" after all this time. What was even weirder, though, was running into her after everything started happening again.

It wasn't more than a few hours before running into her on the street that day that Todd started hearing sounds coming from inside house number 777. At first, it was just this creepy cracking noise. It sounded like something was ready to snap from the inside. And then late last night, well... it did.

You see, Todd was finally on the brim of falling asleep when a loud, thunderous crack (it sounded like an explosion) brought him back to the real world. He leapt up out of bed and ran over to his window, seeing if Nny's house had self-destructed or something, but there was nothing. So whatever happened, happened from the inside. It struck Todd as rather strange, though, considering his neighbors house had been inactive for the past few years after he left.

He wondered if someone had broken in and did something to cause the disruption, but that was highly unlikely. Nny's house has been condemned and everyone in the city thinks it's the most haunted location in the world. Kids try and dare each other on Halloween to go spend the night inside, but no one makes it past the front door. Although, that might just be because whenever you get too close to the house, the smell of rotting... everything... overwhelms your senses.

That was the other strange thing Todd didn't understand. With Nny's house being condemned by the city, they were supposed to knock it down, clean it up, and build a new house ages ago. But after the contract with the demolition company was signed, they called off the destruction due to "equipment failure." It wasn't just one machine, though. Every single piece of machinery owned by Knock-R-Down suddenly malfunctioned. The day that was announced was the last time Todd heard any noises coming from inside the house.

But now that he ran into that lady... Devi, he thought her name was. Yes, now that he ran into her, the house seemed to pick back up on its activity. Aside from that loud crack, it didn't seem to be anything major, but it was still creepy and more than likely dangerous, because there was no one inside to be making noises like that. Fearing for his and his family's safety, Todd decided to investigate that old tunnel that led from his house to Nny's. He wasn't what you would call brave, but he was extremely curious and scared. If the monsters had surfaced again without Nny there, he feared more than anything that they would come to his house.

But putting that aside, Todd tried to piece everything together. He ran into Devi not too long ago, and just based on the two encounters he had with her, he had his own suspicions that she was also mixed up in this somehow. She had dated Nny, almost got killed, and then got away. And if Todd was assuming correctly, she was responsible for all of the cuts and bruises on his body the next day. If two and two added up correctly, Todd was willing to bet that the activity in the house was caused by the two people Nny cared about the most finally meeting each other. Whatever's in there has something to feed off of now? Oh, he didn't really know, he was just wracking his brain.

He walked back down his street, his eyes fixated on the homicidal maniac's house, and he couldn't help but hear a gurgling noise. It was faint, but he could still hear it. Shuddering at the thought of whatever might be in there, Todd picked up the pace and ran straight into his house. His father was still at work and his mother was passed out in the bedroom upstairs. He pulled Shmee out of his backpack and tossed it on the couch.

He went and grabbed a flashlight and glass of water before braving his basement. He looked to Shmee for comfort and reassurance, praying that the little bear would protect him from whatever monsters were lurking around in the darkness. But whenever he looked at the stuffed creature, he felt like he was being held back. Like Shmee didn't want him to go downstairs and face his fears. Well, find, not face. That had also only started happening recently.

But he gulped and moved his hand to the doorknob. He kept reminding himself that it was daylight and monsters didn't like to be scary and come out in the daylight. The door creaked open and he clicked his flashlight on, tucking Shmee under his arm and grabbing the railing as he headed downstairs. He left the door open, hoping if he needed to, he could make a quick escape.

When he got to the bottom, he looked around for the light switch. Much to his displeasure, the only light available was accessible by pulling a cord that hung by the light itself. He was not yet tall enough to reach it. His fears were growing with each passing second, but he wandered around until he found a small, narrow cubbyhole along the wall behind the stairs. He knelt down and shined his light inside, prepared to have a zillion bats come flying at him or something. But there was nothing there.

He slammed his eyes shut, trying so hard to force himself to crawl forward into the tunnel. He felt like there was a voice commanding him to stop. He felt as if his life was in danger and that wherever that voice was coming from, it knew something he didn't.

"H-Hello? Is someone else here?"

Todd was calling out to whatever made contact with him, but he got no further response. Against his better judgment, Todd decided to inch forward and get a head start into the tunnel. If he saw even one scary thing, he was gonna hightail it out of there. Whatever was causing him to act was also scaring the daylights out of him. He wanted so badly to listen to the voice and turn back, but his legs started moving on their own. He knew he came down here for a reason and he had every intention of going into that tunnel, but... well he just didn't expect it to be this creepy.

It wasn't long before he came out of the small space that he was able to stand comfortably and move around. Whatever area he was in was quite spacious. He moved his flashlight around, shining the light all around the room-passageway-thing. It looked like an old mining or railroad tunnel. There was dirt everywhere and everything was supported by these old wooden beams. There were no tracks or tools, though, so it must have been cleaned out.

He took a few steps forward and his nose was greeted with a vomit-inducing smell. His eyes burned and he groped his stomach, trying desperately not to throw up everywhere. He held his light directly in front of him and just lost it. All along the rest of the tunnel was a thick line of forgotten corpses. The bones and rotting flesh were stacked on top of each other like a barrier or a lining. There were rats and insects having a field day with them and Todd just couldn't take it anymore. He turned sharply on his heel and just barfed.

He let out a scratchy scream and made a run for it. He almost clawed his way out of the narrow crawlspace and bolted up the stairs. He slammed the basement door shut behind him and used his body to hold it shut as if some horrible monster had followed him out and he was trying to seal it away. He panted heavily and his heart felt like it would leap out his chest. His legs were shaky as he tried to pull himself upstairs. He knew exactly what all that was. Nny had been the one to tell him about the underground tunnel, but he had no idea that it was full of bodies. He knew Nny had too many victims to remember, but he questioned how long the scary neighbor man had been in his line of work.

He already felt his night of terror beginning as he wasn't going to sleep well after seeing something as horrifying as that. He went straight to the bathroom and started almost violently brushing his teeth to rid himself of the horrible taste. He felt dirty, partially for crawling around in an old tunnel in his basement, and partially because he was in a room-type place with hundreds of rotting dead people. So after brushing his teeth, he went over and turned the knobs to start the shower.

He undressed and stepped inside, pulling back the curtain and letting the warm water fall on him. As he was scrubbing his hair, he got this odd feeling that something bad had happened. He tried to figure out what it could possibly be, but he kept getting nothing. So he decided not to worry about it until he was done bathing.

He rinsed his hair and washed his body, thankful for the feeling of being clean. He stepped out of the bathtub and grabbed a towel, wrapping it loosely around his waist. He grabbed his clothes and scurried into his room. He took the towel to his hair and began drying it while also grabbing some basketball shorts and a t-shirt. It was only six o'clock, but he wasn't going anywhere, anyway.

"I don't know what it all means, Shmee, or what I'm gonna do. Those bodies, though, they were disgusting! Just thinking about it makes me feel like throwing up again. Shmee, I wonder if- Shmee?"

Looking around for his companion, Todd's heart stopped at the lack-of sight of seeing him. He sprinted back to the bathroom, but he wasn't there. He hurried back downstairs and didn't see him by the basement door, in the kitchen, or in the living room by his backpack. Looking back to the basement door, Todd realized that he must have dropped Shmee when he turned to vomit and then left him when he ran away. His eyes widened in pure horror and tears were forming at the brim.

"Shmee."

* * *

"A/N: Just a little chapter from Todd's point of view. Don't worry, the next chapter will continue from Devi's perspective. I don't have a whole lot to say in this authors note, so... I hope you enjoyed this chapter, reviews are loved and appreciated, and I hope you'll stay tuned till next time."


	5. Infinite Fury

Getting up and going to work this morning was a nightmare. I had fallen asleep on the couch, lost my keys, left all my paints out and let them get all dried up, my "dinner" was spilt out all over my kitchen table, and my head was throbbing like I had been whacked with a baseball bat. What a great fucking morning.

So after fixing my hair and throwing on my coat, I tore up the rest of my apartment to find my keys, grabbed my work, and left. Getting to work was horrendous in this early morning traffic. I mean, getting up as early as I do to get there sucks, but at least the streets are quiet. Being an hour late meant being condemned to rush hour traffic and I thought I'd rip out all of my hair. How did these morons do this every day?

Needless to say that my boss wasn't exactly thrilled at how late I was, but I was fortunate that the people who wanted my painting wouldn't be picking it up till this afternoon. Glaring me down, I was handed a slip of paper with my next assignment and sent away. The receptionist also gave me this nasty look, as if me being late had anything to do with her. So I slammed my foot on the ground and gave her the most menacing glare I could muster. Her eyes widened and she went back to typing something on her computer.

Now that I was in the almost comfort of my own car, I unfolded the piece of paper and read it. Scowling in frustration, I crumbled it up and tossed it in my backseat. I didn't want to paint flowers, no matter what kind of spin I could put on them. They were too common, too ordinary, too boring, and too overrated. Nothing I did to them would make them anymore interesting or unique. And it was due first thing tomorrow morning! Fuck!

Starting the car, I took off as fast as I could, preparing myself for a long night of Hell. I get the wondrous pleasure of spending an entire day in my living room painting this pathetic excuse of an art piece and then I get to go back out into the world first thing in the morning to see my lovely boss and try not to vomit while handing it over. Doesn't that sound nice?

So when I got back to my apartment complex, I stomped up the stairs and rammed my keys into the door, doing myself no good. But when I turned them, I was surprised to hear a 'click.' Did I just _lock _my door? I jiggled the knob and it wouldn't open. I heard the muffled sound of my stereo that I never used and I knew someone was in my apartment. I turned my key back, readied a can of mace, and bust open the door. The door to my bedroom flung open at the same time and Tenna shrieked in surprise.

I dropped my can and sighed in relief. It was only her. How stupid was I that I left my door unlocked? Hurry or not, I should have taken the time to lock it. I always did. Why the Hell didn't I this time? But more importantly than that...

"What are you doing here?"

Tenna marched over to me and dropped a basket of dirty laundry at my feet. She stepped back and spread her arms like she was going to fly away or something.

"Do you see this? This is what I call unlivable living space. See that kitchen table over there? There's old food just slopped all over it. See this living room floor? Neither do I! God, don't even get me started on your bedroom. Devi, this place is trashed!"

"I'm well aware. I went on a mad hunt for my keys this morning. It's no big deal."

"It is! Devi, look at your apartment!"

She was trying to reason with me, but I just tuned her out with her own semi-horrible taste in music. It was still playing loudly from my bedroom. I walked past her and into said room to grab a clean pair of clothes and turn off that stupid stereo. I don't even remember buying that old thing. Was it a gift...?

"Devi!"

Groaning, I turned to face her. She tapped her foot and crossed her arms, like she was a mother who just busted her child for stealing from the cookie jar. However, I didn't act like a caught little kid and instead moved to get past her.

"I'm going to take a shower now. I got my new assignment from work today and it's due in the morning. I'll be working all night, so please leave now."

I think the world was out to piss me off today. It had to be.

I slammed my bathroom door shut, completely ignoring her babbling words and turned on the water. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but Tenna had completely ignored my request for her to leave. It was a demand, actually, but I suppose the 'please' told her otherwise. She grabbed a trash bag from my kitchen and began tossing things left and right. Old food, wrappers, my dried out paint, useless pieces of paper, empty drink cans, etc. She took all my brushes and set them in the sink to rinse off while she piled all of my other junk onto the coffee table.

I'm not sure how fast she was moving, but she must have been buzzing around my entire apartment to return everything to its rightful spot. She rinsed out my sink after the brushes were clean and put them in my paint cup. As I was getting out of the shower to dry off, I heard my ancient vacuum cleaner running and I knew she was still here. I cursed under my breath and dried off quickly and got dressed. Practically kicking the door off its hinges, I stormed out of the bathroom and just stopped.

My apartment looked like shit, but my living room was... immaculate. It was spotless and I could actually walk around without stepping on everything. Tenna just stood there with a stupid grin plastered onto her face.

"Now you have a clean space to work in. I'll let you paint out here until you're done with work. I'll keep to other parts of the apartment and keep cleaning. You need to keep this place clean, Devi. If you're going to be a recluse living in here, you need to have a somewhat sanitary living environment."

When did she learn big words like that?

She kept going on about that while I scanned the room again. As nice as it looked, I hated to admit, there was something missing. My eyes did another sweep and I saw my can of paint brushes but no paint. I gasped and grabbed Tenna by collar.

"What did you do with my paint, Tenna?!"

I was practically hissing at her and there was so much malice in my voice that I didn't even realize how scary I was until I saw tears form at the brim of her eyes. I let her go and backed away, forcing myself to cool off. It didn't matter how much she was pissing me off, I didn't need her sobs of despair making it worse. Knowing the outcome, I spat out an apology and all was forgiven.

"I threw them away."

The anger returned.

"They were all dried out. Even I knew that you couldn't use them anymore."

Oh, yeah.

"I guess you'll just have to go buy some new ones."

What the fuck!

My fists were balled up so tight that my knuckles were white and It looked like the skin would split and bleed. My teeth were clasped together, threatening to shout obscenities if I opened my mouth. My whole body shook with fury and anger as I thought about not only the events of today, but having to go back out and face the world... again! Twice in one day!

Tenna completely ignored me, though, as she went back to her cleaning. She was in the kitchen now, saying she wanted to be done out here by the time I got back so she could stay locked away in another room and not bother me. She was never one to give me my space when I needed to work, what the Hell was going on?

As much as I just wanted to say fuck it and stay inside - as much as I wanted to throw Tenna out and lock the door behind her - I knew my job was depending on me getting this done. If I didn't have that painting by tomorrow, I would surely be fired. Letting out my built up rage, I let my first fly into the wall. There was now a gaping hole there, and I'm pretty sure I broke several knuckles, but I felt quite a bit better. I turned to grab my wallet and then just walked out. I didn't bother to grab my shoes, brush out my hair, or grab my coat. I just left.

* * *

"A/N: Review? Please? :)"


	6. Trauma Sponge

People gave me the most irritating looks as I walked into the supply store. Some kid behind the counter tried giving me crap for not having any shoes, but I pulled out my wallet and flashed my money in his face and he shut up. I was a paying customer and I had socks on, I didn't need his bullshit right now.

I walked to the back of the store and grabbed a few sets of paint. Making sure I had everything, I returned to the register and glared at him as he rang me up. I could hear the other customers whispering and giggling behind my back, but I was actually too annoyed to do anything about it. I just wanted to leave.

So with my bags of stuff in tow, I pushed the door open to leave, only to be greeted by a loud grunting noise. I stepped back and saw a kid with his hand over his face and figured I probably nailed him with the door. Fucking great.

"Sorry about that. You O.K.?"

He nodded his head and I was satisfied. But, of course, just as I was about to walk away - and I mean the split second I was turning on my heel to leave - the kid removes his hand and I recognize him. Why did I _always _seem to run into him when I _least _wanted to see him. Well, I guess it wasn't really him, more like I just got tired of the familiarity. He always talked to me and I felt as if I was slightly obligated to respond to him.

"Oh, it's you, Devi."

The kid was usually semi-upbeat whenever we spoke, but he sounded pretty upset. He didn't look like he'd been crying or anything, but there was just something sad about his voice that wouldn't let me walk away from him. I wasn't going to ask him about it, but I also wasn't going to ignore it if he talked about it. This guy had some nerve about him, making me feel like I had to be nice to him or something. I'll get him back for that one day.

"What are you doing here?"

I flashed my bags in front of his face and he nodded again. There was this damn awkward silence that lingered in the air and I actually coughed in an attempt to clear it up. He would look at me and then look away, and the fact that I could tell he wanted to say something, but refused to, really irritated the shit out of me. I held my temper for a few more seconds before I spat out my frustration.

"If you've got something to say, could you say it already?"

He took a few steps back, startled by my forwardness and probably the venomous tone in my voice.

"Um, well... It's kind of dumb..."

"I don't care. You want to say something and apparently you want to say it to me. Spit it out."

He twiddled his thumbs and took a few deep breaths. Did he think I was going to rip his head off and say he was wasting my time or something? 'Cause the only thing wasting my time is him not saying a damn thing.

"I lost Shmee the other day."

"Who?"

"We were in the basement. I got scared and dropped him."

"So go get him back?"

"No, I can't! I-"

He put his hands on his face and started shaking his head back and forth. Whatever was in his basement must have been pretty scary. Either that or he was just really that much of a coward. It was hard to tell anymore. But I decided that I'd rather not discuss the matter of whoever this Shmee was with him and voted to change the subject instead.

"What are you doing here?"

Glancing back up at me, he let his arms fall and his head drop, as well.

"I'm coming home from school."

"I guess it was another exciting day."

"It's hard to be at school without Shmee. People have been teasing me a lot more and the bullying has gotten worse. I don't have any confidence without him."

Man, he's full of weird problems, isn't he?

"Look: if this "Shmee" means that much to you and you can't get him back, then why not have your parents go down and get him for you?"

"Oh, no, no... they wouldn't do that. Dad's too busy and mom's always asleep. I can't bother them."

Raising my eyebrows, I gave up. I didn't know what he was babbling about anyway. It's not like I was helping him or anything. I scratched the back of my neck and shuffled my feet, somehow subtly telling him that I was leaving. And as I turned and walked away, I heard him yell after me.

"I'm sorry if I upset you last time. I wasn't trying to."

I knew he wasn't trying to be an asshole when he said that, but he still didn't have the right. I was too preoccupied with other things to be bothered by it, though. I waved my hand back at him and kept walking, concerning myself with the condition of my apartment when I got back. I knew Tenna wasn't destroying it, but what else did she throw away while I was gone?

And that moment of truth came when I got back. The living room was still perfect and the kitchen was empty and clean. That damn stereo was playing again, though not quite as obnoxiously as before. She was zoned in on my room. Fuck.

Taking out my fresh supplies, I got all my stuff ready to work through the night. I knew I wasn't going to enjoy this, so I just pushed aside my thoughts and started painting. And I managed to stay at a steady pace for a few hours. It was dark outside. Wanna know how I knew that? 'Cause Tenna always opens my blinds, and this time, I'm too focused to fix them. I was about a quarter of the way done when I heard this odd sound coming from in the kitchen. Tenna hadn't left my room since I got home. She probably fell asleep or something.

I tried to ignore it and keep working, but it got louder. I knew no one had broken in, there wasn't some creeper wandering around my apartment, but the sound was eerie. The sound finally registered to me as a cackle and I knew that Sickness had decided to rear her ugly head again.

_"Well wasn't that fun?"_

"Wasn't what fun?"

_"Running into him again? He's taken a liking to you, despite your bitchy attitude."_

"Whatever you say."

_"What, got no more fighting spirit in you?"_

"No, I've got too much work to do to play games with you."

_"Oh, right. Your boss really fucked you over with this one, eh?"_

"Do you have anything important to say?"

_"Well, I suppose, if you really want to get to the point like that."_

"Oh, I do."

_"I was just going to inform you that the boy's trauma sponge has gone missing. I have a feeling you two will be getting much closer."_

"What's that supposed to mean? And what the Hell is a trauma sponge?"

_"You told me to get to the point. That was it."_

I tried to get more information out of her, but she went back into hiding. I was beyond tired of her mind games and her little tricks. Speaking in riddles and trying to be a clever pain-in-my-ass was only aggravating me further. But on the bright side, it was now eleven o'clock and I was halfway done.

* * *

"A/N: I really just wanted to update this. School starts again on the 20th and with my hours at work staying steady, I won't have as much free time to write. I'm going to try and get at least one more chapter in before that happens, though, and hopefully the story will be finished sometime before I get my degree. Review?"


	7. Missing Property

Dragging myself out of the office, I thought my whole body would break the second I bumped into something. I worked all last night, right up to the point of finishing five minutes after it was time for me to get up and leave. I felt as if I was moving like a robot, because I don't remember consciously doing anything. After I finished working, I put all my stuff away, lest I risk ruining another batch of paints. I pulled on some shoes, fixed my hair, washed my face, and grabbed my coat and keys. And then I wound up here.

I gripped the tiny piece of paper in my hand, not even caring to read it. All I needed to know was that I had a week till it was due. As I slowly made my way to my car, I started to wonder how Johnny did it. How did he run on no sleep for days - more like weeks - without feeling the side effects? But I shuddered at the thought of him and shook my head. I didn't need to think about stuff like that.

I crawled into my piece-of-shit car and slammed the door behind me. I had to get home as fast as I could or risk falling asleep behind the wheel. It also occurred to me that I used to be able to stay up for two or three days at a time when I worked for Nerve, but I guess the pressure that they put on me allowed me to get used to something like that. I've been out of a hardball game like that for a little too long, I guess. Now I slept on a normal schedule like normal people.

But my hopes of rushing home to my lumpy couch (seeing as how Tenna was still passed out on my bed when I left) were crushed when I looked out my window and checked my side mirrors. I got a small glimpse of a familiar lanky kid, but then he was ambushed and out of sight. I jerked my head to find him and saw that a bunch of kids were ripping his backpack off and surrounding him. My instincts told me to start my car and drive off - to just leave and let him defend himself. But from the looks up it, he wasn't even putting up a fight.

After sighing and banging my head against the steering wheel a few times, I started my car. I convinced myself that I owed him one for carrying my grocery bag when we first met. Maybe after I repaid him, I'd stop seeing him all the time. I quickly hit the gas and drove out of the parking lot and onto the street. I revved my pathetic excuse for an engine and took off right at the group of bullies. When they saw that I wasn't letting up, they screamed and cried like toddlers and scattered. When I saw that Todd was the only one left, I slammed on the brakes, stopping just a few centimeters before him.

I stayed in my car and watched as he rose to his feet. He had a couple of dark bruises on his arms and face and his lip was bleeding. He coughed and some blood came up and his hand immediately went to grab his side. Despite being in pain, when he looked through my windshield at me, the kid smiled like he was happy to see me. He picked up his bag and hobbled his way over to me. I rolled down my window for him.

"Going home from work, Devi?"

"You make it sound like you didn't just get the crap beat out of you."

"It's been going on for a few days now. Ever since I lost Shmee, I've been a walking target for bullies. Well, I always have been, but things have gotten worse."

So we're back to that again, eh? This kid needed some serious help. I wasn't sure what to say anymore, so I shifted into reverse and put myself correctly back on the street. I saw the look of sadness in Todd's eyes, but I was getting tired of bothering with it. Whenever I talked to him, I had to deal with Sickness. Just like after Johnny tried to kill me, I had to deal with her. Hell, I _created _her because of him. What was it with the people I met that made Sickness thrive? It actually made me want to run him over just to shut her up. I wouldn't, though...

"I'm going to go now. Try not to get pounded while you're at school."

"It's not so bad when I'm in class. Pepito usually steps in to rescue me. But he can't walk home with me."

Blinking, I decided to just nod, roll up my window, and drive away. He had someone to protect him at almost all times, so I didn't need to be there anymore. But I could see him in my rearview mirror as he was trying to get himself together so he could walk normally. Any sympathy I had for the kid was starting to become overridden by how many times he'd caused Sickness to come out hiding. It didn't even matter anymore if I tried to reason with myself. Just because it wasn't logical, didn't mean it didn't majorly piss me off.

The more I thought about it, the less I was paying attention to the road. I got honked at several times, almost ran a red light, and when I pulled into my apartment complex, I almost ran Tenna over. Luckily I swerved and missed her, but she still pounded her fist on the hood of my car and started yelling at me. She kept doing that, too, until I managed to park and get out.

"... no way to treat someone who spent hours cleaning your entire apartment!"

"I didn't do it on purpose."

"That's the only logical explanation! You're a better driver than that!"

"Tenna, I didn't sleep last night. I've been up for more than twenty four hours now."

She didn't really seem to care, though, but she shut up once we got back up to my apartment. The living room and kitchen were just as I left them, but my room was a different story. When I grabbed my stuff this morning, it was a pigsty. My clothes were tossed around everywhere, garbage was on my floor, Tenna had my CD's scattered everywhere (the ones I never listen to), and my bed was unkempt. Now it was exactly the opposite and then some.

Don't get me wrong, I like it when my room is clean, but I had a sinking feeling that she threw away some "garbage" that wasn't really garbage. I pulled open my nightstand drawer and found my earplugs and journal. That was fine. There was _nothing _under my bed and I was suspicious. I felt like maybe I had stashed an important box of... whatever under there. All my clothes were either folded neatly and in my dresser or hung up on a hanger in my closet. I found all my shoes organized on a mini shoe rack that I didn't even remember buying. Did my mother buy me that when I left home? Whatever. I found a few boxes of miscellaneous stuff, some other painting supplies, old belts that I never wore, a small jewelry box full of stuff from my teenage years, etc.

I wracked my brain for whatever was missing, but nothing came to mind. Tenna led me into the bathroom and showed me all of my organized soaps, hygiene products, and neatly folded towels. I shrugged my shoulders, pleased with her work. I certainly wouldn't have gone to such lengths to clean this place. Just having it tidy is fine with me. But I kept getting drawn to my bedroom, and even though my body was crying for me to crawl into bed and sleep, I got down on the floor and peered under my bed. Tenna went with me and we both stared at the nothingness.

"Missing something?"

"I don't know."

She gave me a quizzical look and stood up, wandering off to wherever. I thought I heard her mumbling something about me owing her breakfast and I about snapped when it finally hit me. It was a vague memory, but I remember having a blue tote box that I shoved under here. And if my memory served me right, I had shoved all the clothes that I wore on the day that Johnny tried to kill me in there. Why I didn't just wash them and keep them or even throw them away, I don't know. Then after Sickness was born and emerged from her painting, I shoved what was left of her canvass in there and hid the box under my bed.

"Tenna!"

"Yeah?"

"There was a blue box under here. What did you do with it?"

"You mean the one with bloody clothes and a weird looking painting? I threw it out!"

Standing up, I bolted past her and out the door, not even caring anymore that I didn't lock it. I had to get out to the dumpster and get that box back. Why? Well, I don't really know, but... I just couldn't bear to get rid of it just yet. I might have been symbolically holding on to it until I felt I was ready to let those horrible tragedies go, but... oh, it didn't matter, that time wasn't now anyway!

I went around the building and saw the garbage truck hoisting the dumpster up and taking all of its contents in. I tried to go stop the driver, but he blew me off, put down the dumpster, and left. All I could do now was stand there, my eyes bulging and my mouth hung open, and stare at the retreating truck. Tenna came out, put her hand on my shoulder, and squeaked Mr. Spooky.

"What's the matter, Devi?"

* * *

"A/N: The update is here! Yes, the day before I leave for my trip and return to school on Monday, here is the update I wanted to give you. I'm thinking the next chapter will be in Todd's P.O.V., so keep a look out for it. Until next time: Review?"


	8. A Friend In Need

It was a miracle that Todd made it to school on time. After his little bully encounter from this morning and stopping to talk to Devi, he was left to limp the rest of the way there. His backpack was halfway unzipped, but luckily all of its contents hadn't spilled out. Ms. Bitters gave him a nasty look as he took his seat, probably because he walked in right as she was talking. However, she resumed her rant as he tried to make himself comfortable. He went digging through his bag, praying to God that none of those kids had taken his homework. Sure, they left his books, pencils, and notebooks. Hell, they even left the folder with all of his other homework, but they took his first period worksheet. Lovely.

Pepito took his seat behind his best friend and watched as he put his head in his hands. He knew that Todd had been getting harassed more than usual for a little while now, but it pissed him off to watch him be so helpless. He went out of his way to protect his amigo, but he just couldn't always be there. He had a life of his own and responsibilities as the Anti-Christ that he had to attend to. He couldn't swing by and walk him to school or go home with him to drop him off – he just didn't have the means to do so. The only thing he could do was protect him while they were at school and try and convince him that he needed to learn to defend himself.

But Todd was always defensive when it came to something like that. He didn't want to learn how to fight, or pretend to be tough when he wasn't, or even just try and have a little more confidence. All he did was tell Pepito that everything would be fine and that the bullying would stop when he got older. What his friend didn't know was that adults are assholes too, and they do bullying on a whole different level.

"Psst! Todd."

Todd turned around and looked at a very concerned Pepito. He looked over the bruises and scrapes and shook his head. Why did this have to happen? The one person that he knew to be a _good human being _was the biggest target for _everyone_. Even though life wasn't fair, this was just cruel and unusual, even in Pepito's eyes.

"Did you get jumped again?"

"Yeah, but it could have been worse."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember me telling you about Devi? She saw me getting bullied and used her car to scare everyone off."

He had to be joking. Yeah, Todd talked her up and made her seem like this really nice person, but Pepito knew better. He asked his father about her not too long ago and he practically coughed up her entire file. She was five foot nine inches, one hundred and twenty pounds, likes Terry Gilliam movies, ghost stories, and reading. She hates shitty dates, overly-religious people, and being attacked with sharp objects. Her file then went on to disclose information about things she's done and the way she's been living her life. She seemed to be a rather normal child, entered a "Goth" stage when she was about fifteen, has been on countless bad dates, etc. She likes to paint and create things without conforming to the stereotypical norm, blah, blah, blah…

It started to get interesting a few years back, though. When Pepito found out that she had been holing herself up in her apartment, living life with a paranoid and bad attitude, and that she now had one of the shittiest views on humanity and the world in general, he knew she wasn't a "nice lady." And whether Todd didn't know any of this or he was too naïve to believe it, well, it wasn't surprising. Now was a good a time as ever to tell him the truth. Someone had to have sympathy and compassion for the kid.

"I don't mean to sound too negative here, but are you sure she wasn't trying to run you over as well?"

"No, of course not! She wouldn't do something like that."

Sighing, he knew it was time to spill the beans.

"I think you should know the truth about her."

"What do you mean?"

"Being the Son of Satan, I have access to my father's files on people. He gave me her file a couple days ago and I think you should know-"

"Todd! Pepito! If you two have something to say, say it to the class! Or better yet, don't say anything at all!"

Having their conversation cut short, Pepito opted to finish at lunch time. If he couldn't convince Todd what a wreck this woman was by the end of the day, he would have no choice but to steal the file and give it him. Even though it was against the rules, it was the only option he felt he had.

And even though the school day was now halfway over, along with lunch, Pepito was still outraged that Todd wouldn't believe him.

"Are you stupid or something?! This girl _hates _people, detests the world outside of her apartment, and carries ridiculous amounts of mace with her wherever she goes! She's not nice!"

"You don't understand, Pepito. I think Devi acts the way she does because of Nny."

"Your homicidal recluse of a neighbor? He's been gone for years!"

"I know, but before he left, he tried to kill her!I don't know what happened, or what went wrong, but I think it messed with her head. She might seem kind of bitter, but she's still a nice person."

Becoming extremely frustrated, Pepito slammed his fists on the table and hissed. His stupid, naïve, ridiculous, innocent, too-kind-for-his-own-good best friend was being unreasonable! This Devi woman didn't like him, she wasn't being nice to him, and she certainly didn't give a rats-ass about him! If anything, she was just trying to tolerate him. The whole thing was ludicrous.

But he didn't seem to have a leg to stand on anymore, so Pepito just dropped it. He would get in big trouble later, but he was left with no choice but to steal her file and force Todd to open his eyes. If that didn't work, then there was nothing he could do.

But as the school day came to an end, Todd scurried to his locker to drop off and pick up his things. He was hoping that if he could limp fast enough, he would beat the potential bullies and get a nice head start home. Pepito came with him, doing what little he could to protect him. He would be safe until they got outside and he was out of sight. This was the result of living in two opposite directions from each other.

So they said their goodbyes and parted ways, Pepito constantly looking back. His paranoia was kicking in to overdrive just like it did every day after school. But seeing that there was nothing he could do, he rounded the corner and was gone.

But surprisingly, nobody followed Todd on his way home. People kept a distance and held their own conversations. No one was plotting their next attack, there was no gossip about him being a pussy or a wimp, and no one was laughing at his expense. It was odd, unusual, different, weird, strange, and everything in between, but he wasn't complaining. In fact, he was able to relax for once and take his time getting back home. Aside from Pepito trying to convince him that Devi was a bad person, he had one other thing on his mind today: Shmee. He _needed_ to get him back.

But as for how to do that, he still wasn't sure. If he tried to brave the basement again, he was afraid that instead of finding Shmee, he'd find something worse. He was afraid that there were more than corpses in there. But then he started thinking about the possibility that if it wasn't just dead bodies, what if something had gotten Shmee? What if he wasn't there anymore? What if bugs had laid eggs inside of him and chewed on him? What if he had been torn apart?!

The thoughts terrified Todd so much that he picked up the pace and started fast-limping his way home. He had to get there, find a flashlight, a doctor's mask or something to cover his nose and mouth, and he had to suck it up and go back in. If Shmee was still in there and alive, he needed to get him out. He couldn't go without Shmee forever. He wasn't ready to let go or stand on his own yet. The thought of not having his first ever friend made his heart feel heavy.

So today he didn't get to be a coward – today he was a scaredy-cat playing brave.

* * *

"A/N: This is the first opportunity I've had in awhile to write in general. Now that I'm back in school, I've been getting slammed with homework. On top of that, I've been working till late almost every night. So I'm pleased to be able to bring you this update, even if it is just another small stepping stone. Just so you know, I'm aware that the comics spelled it "Skool," but for the purposes of correct spelling, I will spell it normally unless using it in a character dialogue. Also, those facts I got about Devi (her height, weight, likes, dislikes, etc.), I got all of that information straight from the Director's Cut. So, no, I didn't just make it up. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review."


	9. He Meets His Fate

Why did it have to happen like this? All he wanted was to get his best friend back. He had no further desire to explore the mysteries of his basement and the secret tunnel. He didn't really care about where it led, what else was in it, or who used it for what. It didn't matter and it didn't concern him. But Shmee, well that was a different story. Shmee had been his best friend since he was a baby. Shmee was a "gift" given to him when he was a newborn from his parents, hoping that by giving him a toy, he'd shut up for five minutes. He was a surprisingly gentle baby and that's why he had lasted so long without falling apart at the seams. In fact, that only happened because Nny stabbed him for information.

In any case, Todd decided to be brave and go to any lengths necessary to retrieve his stuffed companion. When he got home that day from school, he scurried around his house, gathering tools like flashlights, bandanas, jackets, hats, etc. He bundled himself up, throwing on jeans in place of his shorts, his thick winter boots, a form-fitting jacket, and a simple black beanie that he found randomly in the closet. He grabbed the bandana and tied it up so it was covering his mouth and nose. About the only thing he was missing was a pair of goggles to protect his eyes. He went outside and grabbed a broken piece of a kitchen chair from his other neighbor's garbage before he even though about opening his basement door. He figured he'd either be too scared to use it or too scared and overuse it. He brought it anyway.

He twisted the door knob and quickly forced it open, clicking on the flashlight and shinning it down the narrow stairway. Had it always been this long and creepy? He took a few steps down, getting himself used to how the stairs creaked under his feet. The sound disturbed him, but he swallowed the lump in his throat and kept moving. He hurried the rest of the way down, shinning his light back up the stairs now and confirming that the door was still open. He wanted a quick escape if it was needed.

Finding himself already halfway there, Todd turned and walked over to the crawlspace that he knew led to the tunnel. He got down on his knees and shinned his light, looking for any signs of bugs or other scary things before he crawled into the tight space. His light caught something that he could just barely see, but he gasped when he took a closer look. He was practically crawling in after it, sticking his head in for a better look. The thing appeared to be one of Shmee's limbs. So, being overly excited, Todd squirmed the rest of the way in, only to have his heart sink when he reached the other side.

There in front of him lay the tattered remains of an incomplete Shmee. Todd recognized the extremely dirty brown fabric as one of Shmee's arms and a whole lot of stuffing. Remaining on his knees, Todd stared at the ground, refusing to look at his friend's broken pieces, and choked out a quick sob. Tears formed at the brim of his eyes, but he wouldn't allow himself to sit there and cry. The rest of Shmee was down there with him and he had to keep going. So he reached out, still not looking, and grabbed his arm and some stuffing and shoved them in his pocket. He'd find a way to fix him later.

After about a minute, he finally decided to rise to his feet. His legs were shaking and his eyes were still glistening from the tears, but Todd refused to go back. He set out with a purpose: find Shmee and bring him back. He wasn't going anywhere, no matter how much he desperately wanted to, without his buddy.

So he held out his flashlight, best as he could considering that his entire body was an unstable mess. He took baby steps down the tunnel, taking careful notice of the corpses around him. He held his bandana closer to his face, pathetically trying to block out the ungodly smell. It did little for him. He kept his distance from either side of the tunnel walls, really not wanting a corpse to fall and bump into him, and clung tightly to the stick he was carrying. The last thing he needed to do was panic (even more than he already was) and run away.

And much to Todd's surprise, the tunnel was extremely short. It wasn't long before he reached the other side and saw another small crawlspace. He concluded that it must lead to Nny's basement and the thought horrified him further. If his own basement scared him to death, what would Nny's basement be like? But shaking the awful thoughts out of his head, Todd got on his knees and quickly crawled through the equally tight space and popped out unharmed on the other end.

Unharmed, but… wet. He shined his light down at his hand and saw that he had stuck it in a puddle of liquidy stuff. It was too thick and cloudy to be water, and when he brought his hand up, it clung to his skin. His hair stood on end and a shiver rocketed up his spine. He was about ready to scream until something else caught his eye. Moving his flashlight, he caught sight of what looked like both of Shmee's legs and some more stuffing. Completely forgetting about the unknown substance stuck to his hand, he wiped it on his pants and got up.

Walking over to the other body parts, Todd couldn't help but feel like breaking. He let some silent tears fall, finding himself unable to sob like he did last time. He knew that it was only going to get worse. Pretty soon he'd find his other arm, his body, and eventually… his head. So swallowing another lump, he shoved more pieces into his pockets, and moved on. He was starting to feel really sick and uneasy, but he was too far along to run away.

He walked around, finding himself hugging the wall, though it was rough and uneven. He felt around it, shinning his flashlight all over. He just couldn't get a good look at anything without more light. So it was his lucky day when he ran into the light switch after his foot collided with some hard wooden object. He flipped it on quickly, dying to be able to see clearly again. Although, he soon changed his mind and wished that he had never come in the first place.

This tiny basement room was completely destroyed. The walls were scratched to Hell, the floor was stained with God only knows what. The blood everywhere was a given and there were even obvious drag marks where someone had pulled the victims' bodies across the floor and into the crawlspace. Todd looked down and saw that he had managed to kick the bottom step of the severely shaky and old staircase. This thing was crooked, missing steps, the railing looked like it was being supported by thin air, and it just screamed 'death trap.'

Todd's eyes were frozen wide open. His heart had sped up so much that it felt like it was going to leap from his chest and commit suicide at such an awful sight. This was somehow worse than the tunnel full of dead bodies. But the straw that broke the camel's back was when he felt something moist and goopy hit his head. He reached up and pulled off his beanie, still unsure of where it came from, and examined it. It looked like the exact same wet stuff he stuck his hand in just a moment ago. So he looked up, trying to locate its source, and was terrified beyond his wildest dreams when he saw it just dripping from the ceiling like water dripping from a leaky pipe.

Unable to control himself any longer, Todd let out an Earth shattering scream. He bounded up the stairs as fast as he could, skillfully and mindlessly avoiding the missing steps, and clinging to the wall as the railing veered and broke off. He rammed his body into the door at the top, not bothering to just turn the knob. He easily ripped the old rickety thing off its hinges, but he grabbed it and thrust it back up, trying to at least block the opening he had created.

Which leads us to where we are now. After Todd had entered that room at the top of the stairs, he sealed his fate. He went snooping around too early, without any help or company from anyone. Had he waited and asked for Pepito to go with him, or even tried to weasel Devi into it (yeah, right), he wouldn't be in his current predicament. Yes, fate – something unavoidably befalling on a person, determining the rest of their lives. It was cruel and harsh, unfair and unrelenting, and it knew nothing of kindness or compassion. It was whatever it was.

And unfortunately for Todd, fate was rather bitchy today. On the wall before him, he found old chains and ropes, nails and blades… just things in general that were used to hold things to the wall. And by the looks of it, people were hung up there. Everything was rusted, tattered, and covered in some sort of vile substance. Blood, dirt, saliva, snot… lots of things. And at the very top of the wall hung a very worn Shmee. His arm was tied up with a rope, casually swinging back and forth. His body was hung up by a chain, the stuffing being squeezed out of it because it was on so tight. And his head was viciously nailed in the middle of it all. His eyes had been ripped off, he only had one ear intact, and his teddy bear smile was slit and stuffing poured out from the opening.

Todd took a few steps back, still not believing what he was seeing. Dropping his wooden stick, he let the tears fell down his face for a third time as he tripped over his own two feet and fell backwards. He did nothing to brace himself, only curling up into a tight ball and putting his hands over his eyes. His body wracked with heartbreaking sobs as he spiraled out of control on the floor. He dropped his flashlight and his hat flew off his head. He was now a broken mess, lost in unfamiliar territory, and ripe for the picking.

Another door creaked open, but Todd didn't hear it. All anyone could hear was his cries of despair. A long, crimson-ish colored tentacle reached in and snaked its way around his body. He hadn't noticed it until it finally tightened its grip. It clamped down on his body like a boa constrictor and hoisted him up in the air, effortlessly dragging his stiff form up a new flight of stairs and into an entirely different room. And this was his fate.

* * *

"A/N: I'm really sorry that I haven't updated this in such a long time. I've been busy with school, and the time that I have had to write, I just didn't feel like writing for this. I wanted to write more romance type stuff, so I wrote some other one-shots to let it out. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. One day I'll get back to Devi's point of view, but I think I'm going to run with what happens to Todd for a little while longer. Anyway, please enjoy this update and reviews are always loved."


	10. Untimely

His now pale body was getting colder by the minute as the tentacle held its tight grip. His eyes went from being torn open and scrambling around the room to slammed shut and wanting nothing more than to never see the sight before him again. The tears finally stopped coming, though he still felt the need to cry. He knew the salty liquid could still spew forth, but his body just wouldn't allow for it anymore. And he wanted to scream, and yell, and thrash around with all of his might, but he didn't. He just couldn't.

The rust-colored behemoth in front of him was lurking in the shadows of the far end of the deserted room. The only thing in here besides them was dust and deceased insects. A foul and vomit-inducing odor leaking from the monster and Todd could hear it hiss and snarl. The only source of light came from the still open door from the room he had been yanked from and it was pretty dim. In fact, the whole scenario was even more terrifying with that little bit of faded light to highlight and outline his surroundings.

He could see all of the strange detail that made up the inhuman creature holding him, from the long and overly-dexterous "fingers" to the various "arms" that ranged from fleshy cords to scorpion tails. However, that appeared to be it. There were no sign of the supposed "feet" or "legs," and Todd certainly didn't want to see its head. It seemed to be merely a squishy giant with a temper.

The texture of its skin was different for each tentacle, some being firm and thick, while others were more flimsy and flexible. The various sensations that were aroused by touch were that of extreme discomfort from the tension and pressure being applied to his small frame. All other feeling was being lost as his circulation was being further cut off, but he did feel a stubby little tentacle wrap itself curiously over his left foot.

Gulping, Todd narrowly opened his eyes, and with sweat dripping down his forehead, he focused on the center of the wall, hoping to find out exactly what he was up against. Not like he really wanted to see this thing, but he needed at least a glance to prepare himself. After all, what if this animal could swallow him whole? He probably wouldn't die right away, even if this thing chewed on him.

And with just that little peak, Todd saw that this thing didn't even have eyes. It must have severely enhanced senses of touch and sound if that's the case. Otherwise, it didn't seem very likely that it would have survived for however long it has. Todd briefly remembered Nny talking about painting a wall to keep "it" at bay. This had to be what he was so frantically trying to keep concealed. Nny might have been a deranged homicidal maniac, but at least he didn't ruthlessly slaughter _everyone _that came across his path. This thing didn't look too merciful...

Finding his body unable to shake relentlessly like it normally would in situations like this, Todd tried to slowly move his arm so he could pull it out from the ever-tightening grip of the monster. However, at the slightest feeling of movement, it proceeded to tighten its hold, gaining a squeak from its victim.

Eyes darting around the room, Todd was desperately searching for anything to help his cause. Remembering the nothingness that surrounded the two, he hung his head and let out an exasperating sigh, earning an ear-shattering roar from the monster. It tightened its grip again, this time applying so much pressure that a few of Todd's ribs actually snapped. And breaking bones did not feel all that pleasant.

"Ahh!"

The sound was high-pitched and pathetic, but it was all he was able to muster with his airway now being restricted. Stretching its "neck" out, the beast inched closer and closer to Todd until its beak... thing... was touching his nose. It appeared to be sniffing him, judging by the awkward sounds it was making. Sticking its razor sharp tongue out, it ran it right across Todd's face, peeling off light layers of skin and leaving behind a rough and painful streak of red skin to take its place.

Savoring the taste of the child's flesh, the creature screeched and hollered, flinging Todd's body violently from side to side. His grip loosened as he let his body slip just enough to suddenly re-tighten around his neck. Hands flying up to hold up his own weight, Todd squeaked in pain and surprise. His sides were throbbing from the pain of the breakage, but he was more concerned about his neck being snapped in half at the moment.

The entire room seemed to shake as the monster moved itself all at once. Todd was dangling, still suspended in midair when he was suddenly hurled to the other side of the room. Having been released, he smashed into the unstable wall, leaving quite the nice hole in it. His body fell limply to the ground and he audibly cried out in pain and utter terror. Never in his entire life had he imagined facing something so horrifying and unspeakable. He had been abducted and experimented on by aliens, bullied ever since he could remember, attacked by mobs of people, surrendered to Satan himself, and locked up in a bogus and pathetic excuse of a mental health facility for over a year. And despite all of that, even combined, it didn't add up to what he was facing now.

No one or nothing could prepare him for this.

Trying to push himself up, Todd made it to his knees before the malevolent demon fiercely wrapped a tentacle around his arm and hoisted him back up. Then, out of nowhere, it slammed another tentacle down. Todd's head flew back as the blood spattered and he screamed bloody murder. The blow had completely dislocated his arm and made a nice, clean tear in his skin. Blood oozed onto the floor, staining it while Todd fought to control his breathing. The initial shock wore off and he frantically squirmed around, trying to free himself.

Being released again, Todd scurried to his feet and made a break for the door, but to no avail. A tentacle swooped down and cut him off, knocking the wind right out of him. As he fell again, the monster wrapped another tentacle around his foot and violently dragged him across the floor. It picked him up and slammed him into the wall face first, knocking out several teeth and leaving quite the noticeable gashes on his head. The blood just dripped as the living nightmare shrieked and made a strange gurgling noise that sounded like a cackle.

Dropping his body to the floor, Todd was now lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling, and just in time for a tentacle to come crashing down on his stomach. His body shot up as the blood spewed from his mouth and open sores while the rest of his ribs broke clean off. It was then that he knew that his lung had been punctured, he could feel the warm liquid fill it and drown him.

Now gasping for air, trying desperately to draw a breath, Todd reached out his only remaining good arm and tried to claw his way to the still open door. And yet fate would not seem to be so kind, for just when he almost made it, he was rapidly snatched from his spot of the ground and his limbs and torso were each grabbed by a different tentacle. Another one reached up and it had very firm, very prickly "teeth" on it, and it smacked him in the forehead and held his head up to hold his attention.

Making more strange gurgling and scratchy sounds, the wicked bastard started to slowly twist Todd's limbs in different directions. He wanted nothing more than to scream as tears flowed down his face like a waterfall, but he couldn't. Now bleeding from every part of his body, Todd had no choice but to listen to the popping and cracking sound emitting from his bones as they tried to resist the breakage. And as he felt each individual crack and break, he could only wonder if this is what happened to Shmee when he was found. Being an unfeeling teddy-bear, he was extremely fortunate.

And apparently being satisfied with Todd's now mangled and hardly recognizable body, the creature dropped him to the ground one last time and watched as he convulsed on the floor, twitching and bleeding out all around himself. He could already feel the infection settle in to his exposed head wounds, but knew that it didn't matter anymore. With no one knowing where he was, not caring anyway, and the fact that his lung was completely collapsed, he knew it was only a matter of time before he died.

And in those final moments, his thoughts were oddly enough filled with Nny. Did he know exactly what this thing was? How it got behind his wall? What it was capable of? Did he know that it was this harsh? Malevolent? Gruesome? And did he ever wonder about his own safety when he approached the rotted wood that stood between him and it? Did the blood really keep this thing hidden? Even though none of these questions would be answered for him, Todd could only hope that St. Peter would let him past the gates and into Heaven. Little did he know that Nny had been there and back and it wasn't going to be as wonderful as he thought.

And then he had a fleeting thought of Devi. Did she know what Nny was hiding in his basement? What would she say if she saw it? What would she say if she saw _him _right now? Would she be scared? Angry? Uncaring? He still wouldn't believe that she was a bad person. He could only imagine what Nny had put her through before she managed to escape. He knew that she became a recluse after that night, seeing as how you almost never saw her around town anymore.

His eyes started to get heavy and he willingly let them close. The blood made a heavy puddle that pooled all around him and the monster was lapping it up in the background, but Todd no longer could hear it. Unable to move at all, he coughed up more blood and then laid face down in it, finally calming himself enough to accept his fate. It wouldn't be long before his body was torn apart and locked on to the wall just like Shmee's.

* * *

"A/N: This is the kind of ridiculous update period I was talking about in the beginning. It's been over a month since I've written anything for this story. But I'll avoid that rant, I did warn you, anyway. I hope you like this chapter; I tried to be really descriptive to give you the feel of how he died. It was pretty violent, eh? And just in case anyone is confused, the monster is the wall monster that Johnny worked so hard to keep locked up. If you need a reference for what I was describing when I wrote about him, just look in issue five. Anyway, that concludes this chapter. Until next time."


	11. Uninformed

Incessantly tapping his fingers on his desk and viciously gnawing on his pencil, Pepito anxiously waited for Todd. The bell was going to ring in less than a minute and his amigo still hadn't shown up. His mind was buzzing with all the possibilities of his absence: He got beat up again and was trying to limp the rest of the way to school, he was attacked by his locker and shoved inside of it, he was abducted by aliens last night and they haven't brought him back yet...

The possibilities got more ridiculous with each ticking second.

He practically leaped out of his seat when the bell had rung and his teacher had walked in. A couple of kids gawked at him as he chewed his pencil in half and slammed his fist on the desk. Todd had never missed a day of school unless something bad happened. The feeling that was brewing deep in his gut told him that something had gone horribly wrong.

"Pepito! If you're done causing a scene, I'd appreciate it if you kept quiet and took notes like a good little monkey!"

Narrowing his eyes and growling, he ripped out his notebook and pretended to take notes. He really just doodled and scribbled, completely ignoring everyone around him, especially the teacher. He hadn't taken notes or done any homework since being enrolled in this damned sorry excuse for a public school. Any work he got done was due to Todd pushing him or simply copying what he had. They were best friends, so it was O.K. for him to do that.

But class seemed to drag on forever for the Anti-Christ, because every time he felt like class was almost over, he'd look at the clock and see that only a few minutes had passed. Gritting his teeth and glaring up at the blackboard, he thought that maybe listening to the lecture would distract him. However, after about thirty seconds or so, he quickly lost interest and dropped his head onto his desk. Fuck this bullshit.

He closed his eyes and drifted off into an unpleasant dream. He couldn't remember the specifics or any details, but when the bell rang and he woke up, he was sweating slightly. Some of his classmates mocked him for it, but he was too stressed out to care. He threw all of his stuff in his bag and bolted out of the room.

He rounded corners and ran down stretches of hallway until he reached his buddy's locker. Not even bothering with the combination, he ripped the door open. There was no one inside - just Todd's other text books and a little red jacket. He was only slightly relieved until he realized that that meant Todd was somewhere else. Somewhere else that he didn't even know where to begin to look.

Now being completely fed up with the painful sensation surging within him, Pepito threw his bag in Todd's locker, slammed the door, and ran towards the front entrance. School could kiss his ass today, because finding Todd was more important right now. Showing him the file would have to wait until later.

Running down the street in the direction he knew Todd took every day, Pepito kept his eye out for his comrade. He checked every trash can, alleyway, and manhole he saw, but he still found nothing. There was no backpack, books, shoes or other articles of clothing, and there most certainly wasn't a Todd anywhere on this route.

So out of breath, Pepito stopped to rest for a moment. He knew from the moment he woke up that something was wrong today. His mother was late making breakfast and his father kept giving him curious glances. At first, he thought he might have known about him snatching the file. However, if that was the case, he would have been punished on the spot. And when he tried asking what he found so interesting, Mr. Satan just told him that it was nothing. He would have pressed the issue further, but he had to get to school.

And then Todd didn't show up.

Fishing some change out his pocket, Pepito wandered around in search of a payphone. He found one by the local coffee shop and practically pushed some lady over to get to it first. She cursed at him, but he just stuck out his middle finger and listened as she was appalled and stormed off. Smirking, he dropped in his money and dialed his home phone.

When his mother answered, he demanded to speak to his father. She said that he wasn't home, but Pepito told her to yank him out of the basement, by force if she had to, because he knew he was working down there. Complying with his wishes, she set the phone down and went off in search for him. Pepito tapped his foot impatiently until a very unhappy Senior Diablo picked up the phone.

"You better have a damn good reason for sending your mother to the basement to get me."

"I do. Why were you giving me such weird looks this morning?"

"Is that what this is about? You little shithead, I-"

"Answer me! I've had a weird feeling all morning and it all started with you. Todd didn't show up for Skool today and I can't find him anywhere!"

Silence followed on the other end of the line and Pepito glared daggers at the phone like it would actually do something.

"Son... I think you should let this go."

"No, father, he's my amigo and I know something has happened to him!"

"You care too much for humans. I think I need to have you work with me some more to readjust you."

"I don't want to hear that from you, seeing as how you married a human. Either tell me what you know or I'll find out on my own."

Senior Diablo knew his son was hell-bent on rescuing his friend. Of course he knew where Todd was and what happened to him, he was the devil after all. He had files on everyone, Todd included. Just because he wasn't being condemned to the fiery pits of Hell, didn't mean he didn't have a record. The only thing that Heaven and Hell had in common was an impeccable filing system - they knew everything about everyone.

Becoming increasingly irritated, Mr. Satan told Pepito that Todd was beyond his help now and hung up the phone. And now completely infuriated, Pepito slammed the phone back on the hook, thereby breaking it, and stormed off. He decided to continue in pursuit of his friend, hopeless or not. He had to know what happened to Todd and who was responsible. He wanted to believe that his father was just playing mind games and being a jackass because he took him away from work, but he knew he wasn't.

So with only one option left, he took off in the direction of his friend's house, trying to mentally prepare himself for whatever he might see or come across. He knew a lot of kids bullied him and that his parents didn't give a damn about him, but he couldn't imagine anyone wanting to seriously hurt Todd. The kid was too nice and sincere for that.

Todd was the kind of kid that you could beat up one day and ask for help with homework the next and he'd do it. He'd walk you through everything step-by-step or do it all for you so you wouldn't pound him right then and there. You could cut him in line, take the last semi-edible food, and the last chocolate milk and he still wouldn't hate you.

And Pepito supposed that it was that extreme kindness and overwhelming innocence that made him want to be his friend in the first place. Being the Anti-Christ didn't mean that he couldn't appreciate someone who was truly genuine. Todd might have been mortified by him at first, but even he didn't shut out the weird kid with horns and demonic powers. That had to say something about his character.

And besides, if Todd was cruel and satanic, then he'd probably end up like everyone else who lined up with his father's ideals: Too cocky and dead. Everyone who thought they were better than everyone else has always found some way to fuck up their lives and die some gruesome and tragic death. They became arrogant and ignorant to their own stupidity and started taking matters into their own hands. When they started dipping into God and the devil's territory, they were no longer worthy of his time.

But then Todd comes into the picture, the complete opposite of everyone he was told to socialize with. His unusual withdrawn and shy personality led Pepito to believe he was a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode on all of the assholes that had ever fucked with him. Yet even after all of these years, Todd didn't even appear to have a fuse in which to light up. He wasn't all rainbows and sunshine, or anything stupid like that, but he was just... good. Todd was someone who would stick by him no matter what. He almost acted like his voice of reason. The human boy had so much influence in his life and he hadn't even realized it until he went missing.

So walking up the little path to his front door, Pepito knocked on it harshly. If no one answered, he would just walk in anyway. And as he waited, all he could do was wonder what smelled so bad.

* * *

"A/N: What, another sudden update? It's like it's that time of the year to write creepy and horrifying stuff or something! Yeah, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and all of the "scary" movies and whatnot have gotten me in the mood to write more for this and get to all of the good parts. However, I refuse to rush this, so you'll have to settle for plot development. Also, just so you know, I've already started writing the part where Johnny is introduced. I won't tell you anymore than that other than you'll soon get to know what happens with him. Please review!"


	12. His Butchered Amigo

After impatiently waiting for about thirty seconds, Pepito decided that he was done standing around. He reached up for the door knob and turned it, surprised and yet not that it was unlocked, and pushed it open. Seeing Todd's discarded backpack, he knew he was in the right place. Overlooking the flung open basement door, he bolted upstairs, wasting no time. Although, having never been inside his friend's house, he was left to wander aimlessly.

He opened and shut several doors, one being to his parent's bedroom. He lingered in the doorway for a moment, actually, and just watched in disgust as his pathetic excuse for a mother lie unconscious on the bed. She had one leg all scrunched up while the other hung limply off the edge. One arm was curled to her chest and the other was lazily tossed above her head. Her mouth hung open with light traces of drool streaming down her face. And God, could she snore! It wasn't the constant, obnoxious kind that you could hear from a mile away. No, this was more like an exaggerated hiccup, plus the sound of a snore, with a hint of twitching. It was repulsive.

He noticed her pale white skin, contrasting Todd's slightly darker shade. Her hair appeared to be brown (the lack of care made it hard to tell), and it was in wretched knots. She wore a faded and dingy white nightgown with pink and yellow polka-dots and a purple bathrobe that loosely hugged her shoulders. Her toenails were outrageously grown out, teeth appeared to be stained yellow, and her face looked oily. And that was just what he could see from just outside of her room.

Shaking his head, he slammed the door, knowing full well that it would not wake her (not with the drugs she was on) and ran down to the other end of the hallway. He opened the last door on the left and was grateful to see that it was Todd's room. He saw some open drawers and some discarded clothing, but no sign of his friend. He checked the closet and under the bed, just to be absolutely safe, before running back downstairs.

It was then that the horror-movie style basement door caught his eye. Glancing around the living room and peeking into the kitchen, he immediately began to question why Todd would have wandered down there. He searched the depths of mind, trying to retrieve any helpful information. He recalled their conversations about school, his creepy neighbor, Pepito's work with his father, Devi... but none of that linked him with the basement.

He tried to think harder as he headed downstairs. His eyes scanned the room, but no one else was there. He paced back and forth, looking over everything for some sort of clue. And out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small opening behind the stairs. Walking over to it, he actually thought it was just a crawlspace.

"Todd hates small, dark spaces. But where else..."

Letting his words trail off, he figured he had nothing to lose. He got down on his hands and knees and began the crawl to... wherever. He felt around, having limited vision in the dark, and felt something wet and cold. Grunting in displeasure, he merely wiped it off on his shirt and kept going. When he finally reached the other side, his nose was hit with the same God-forsaken smell from earlier. It was like opening the door to the freezer and finding year-old expired food. The pure rotten and bacteria-infected smell sent him flying into a mini-coughing fit.

He looked around, hoping to either find Todd or not so he could get out. When he still saw no sign of his amigo, he almost decided to turn back. But some unknown shape caught his eye and he moved closer in order to find out what it was. Pulling his t-shirt up to cover his mouth and nose, he squinted and put his face right in front of the mysterious object. He was slightly surprised to see that it was a corpse. In fact, he would have been in complete shock had he not remembered that there was a tunnel linking Todd and Johnny's houses. It all started to make sense now.

He followed the row of dead bodies, impressed with the maniac's work. Some of these bodies were hardly recognizable! And it wasn't due to decomposition. And as he marveled over the deranged man's work, he came to another stopping point. This time, it was another crawlspace, which he assumed would lead him straight into Johnny's basement. He dropped to the ground again and crawled, being rather perplexed at the sight of light at the end.

Yes, when he popped out on the other side, the light was still on. His heart seemed to slow as he flicked his eyes about the room. This house had been abandoned for years, there's no logical reason for the light to still be on. In fact, shouldn't the power have been shut off?

He walked to the center of the floor, eyes glued to the wobbly and barely holding on staircase. The walls were stained and scratched, weathered and abused. The place looked like a scene from some cheesy horror film, a classic perhaps. He felt no fear because of his location, what worried him were the circumstances. His best friend... home practically all alone... basement door left open... light on at the end of a secret underground tunnel to a homicidal maniac's basement... Coincidence? Highly unlikely.

Braving the unstable steps, Pepito started climbing his way up, gripping the wall as he did so. Another wave of odor came rushing over him, but it wasn't as repulsive as the last. It didn't smell rotten or moldy, dusty or sickly. It was warm and smelled like a mixture of sweat and blood. Yes, lots of blood.

Shaking his head, he reached for the door knob and twisted it, stopping midway as a brief snippet of a flashback hit him. He vaguely remembered Todd going on about how he had lost Shmee somewhere in his basement. That was it! That was what he needed to remember! Todd lost Shmee while he was exploring the basement, so that's why the door was open and he was nowhere to be found! He peeked back at the room and saw a few ripped up body parts to said teddy-bear and knew he was in the right place.

But, realizing that that was a bad thing, Pepito quickly flung the door open and ran inside. He was moving so fast that he hadn't been watching where he was going and he ended up tripping over something. He fell ungraciously on face and found that his entire front side was now covered in something warm, wet, and heavy. He pushed himself up and tried to wipe himself off, preparing to wring the liquid from his clothes, but he stopped. The light from the door behind him illuminated the dark color that now stained him and he hurriedly flipped over and stared at the floor.

There, lying before him in tattered shambles, was Todd. His body was soaked with his own fluids, face buried into the floor. His clothes were torn, hair was a mess, and he had visible bruises on his exposed skin. Eyes widening and stinging with tears, Pepito flung himself at the corpse, hands tightly latched on to his former friend's shoulders. He knew - just _knew _- that this was why his father wouldn't tell him anything. By the time he had made that phone call, Todd had already been slaughtered.

He subconsciously dug his nails into his amigo's flesh, not caring about the slight desecration he was causing. For a moment, he wondered if his crazy neighbor had returned and did this. However, he stopped himself, knowing that it was untrue. He would have known if Johnny had come back, and even if he didn't, there's no way he could have done this. Pepito remembered all of the wild stories that Todd would tell him about Nny. All of the twisted and demented things that he had done or would say, but no matter what, Todd always regarded Johnny as a decent person.

He saved him from a child molester when he was six. The guy wished no harm upon his friend.

However, that meant that he still didn't know who or what did this. His narrowed eyes swept across the room, making sure that the attacker wasn't still hiding somewhere. The place was eerily quiet, but quiet all the same. It was just the two of them.

Shakily standing on his own two feet, Pepito caught a glimpse of the door in the corner and started walking towards it. He wasn't entirely sure about what he was doing, but he knew he couldn't stay here. The sight of his only real friend's body all mutilated like that would certainly cause him to go mad. He hated the idea of just leaving him, though, so he decided that he would come back later. Maybe he would drag him out and give him a proper funeral or at least take him to his father to have his body burned. His parents sure as Hell won't miss him.

Speaking of his father, he would have to have a firm and unfriendly talk with him later.

He cracked the other door open, finding a long, crooked, winding staircase that seemed to go on for eternity. He wondered how going from basement to basement led him a hundred miles underground, but decided not to ponder it any further. He would ascend to the surface, all the while thinking about his next course of action.

Should he go straight home and confront his father? Go on a savage hunt for the murderous fiend responsible for all of this? Try calling the police? He snickered at that last thought, already knowing that they were the most useless organisms to walk the face of the Earth. They were a joke and everybody knew it. Fuckers.

And, with that all in mind, he grabbed hold of the railing and began the long journey upstairs.

* * *

"A/N: So, I haven't updated in two months. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Hope you enjoyed."


	13. A Friend of a Friend

God, I must have been standing here for at least an hour now. After the truck was out of my sight, I pretty much shut down. I vaguely heard Tenna ask me a question, but I couldn't give two fucks right now. Not only had she thoroughly invaded my privacy and personal space, but she carelessly discarded my personal items without asking me first! Damn her!

"... the food should be ready if we leave now."

"Tenna."

"Yes?"

"Go away."

I didn't tolerate her further protests, for when she opened her mouth, I quickly slapped my hand over it and shoved her. I was beyond screaming at her now; this was the whole calm before the storm stage. I shoved her into a wall and told her to get lost and she grudgingly walked away. She was being a brat, yelling back at me and trying to lecture me about manners and treating my friends better.

So now I was left to stand by the dumpster, completely unsure about what to do now. If I really wanted to, I could call the city dump and complain about the rude driver, but they wouldn't do anything about it. They'd probably laugh at my expense and tell me not to throw stuff away that I intended to keep. Pricks.

But just as I was about to drag myself back up to my apartment, I heard a pair of feet slam against the concrete. Someone was approaching fast and I had half a mind to leap out and tackle them. I didn't really care who it was or what they were doing, they were stupidly and suspiciously running around the back ends of my apartment building. And seeing as how I didn't maul Tenna, I could use some fresh meat to unleash my wrath upon.

But even that wish didn't come true. The person who rounded the corner skidded to a complete halt when they saw me. It was some short kid with a big head and a stringy looking "mohawk." There were noticeable protrusions coming from his forehead and they looked sharp and solid. I suppose you could call them horns, but I'd be more willing to say that they were freaky looking tumors. And he was dressed in all black, what with his black fitted jeans, black leather boots, and black t-shirt. The only splash of color was the rusty red splattered all over his attire.

His crimson eyes locked with mine and I couldn't tell whether I was supposed to be disturbed or ridicule him. Contrasting his outfit was his sickly looking pale skin and said red orbs. What can I say, the kid looks like a goth Christmas tree. He was panting and a little sweaty, but the way his eyes narrowed at me told me he wasn't tired yet. I shoved my hands in pockets, looking desperately for anything to defend myself against this rabid looking Chihuahua, but it would seem that I would have to use my limbs to ward him off.

"What are you looking at?"

"It's you."

The kid started walking towards me and I readied myself to fight. I'd have to handle him like I handled Johnny, I supposed.

"Quit coming toward me and tell me what you want."

He smirked and flashed a demonic smile at me and I noticed his razor sharp shark teeth. What kind of sadistic child files all their teeth to a point, anyway?

"Quit fussing, I won't hurt you. You're Devi. Todd talked about you a lot."

"Todd?"

That other scrawny kid that I'd been running into? They know each other?

"What are you doing here?"

He finally stopped walking and straightened himself out. Wiping some sweat from his forehead, he proceeded to tell me that he had run into me by accident. Like Todd had, of course. Were these two stalking me?

"Do you know what's happened?"

Shaking my head, he stood tall and opened himself up. He looked down at his shirt and pointed out the red color I noticed from earlier. He said that it was blood and not his own. I about rammed my foot into his face and was prepared to bolt into my apartment building and call the police, but he spoke before I could do anything.

"It's Todd's. He wasn't at school today, so I left and went looking for him. Wound up at his house and found him dead in his neighbor's basement."

Did he think I was born yesterday? There was no way I was falling for this bullshit. I marched up to him and grabbed him by the collar. And in my most threatening and menacing tone, I let him have it.

"Listen here, shithead: I don't care how funny you and that pest think it is to play games with me, but I won't have it. Quit fucking around and tell that brat to keep his distance from me. Otherwise it'll be him I ram with my car."

I dropped him and walked away after that. I felt pretty good about myself, at least for the moment. But it wouldn't last, because he came running up behind me in a flash. Without any hesitation, he thrust me to the ground and flipped me over. His hand was ablaze and there was fire in his eyes. His teeth were showing and he looked absolutely pissed.

"Alright princesa, I've had it! You know, Todd really liked you. He always talked about you as if you were a good person, but you can't even manage to be a halfway decent human being! Next time you decide to insult somebody, you better make sure that their best friend isn't the Anti-Christ!"

He used his hand that was still burning and pressed it firmly against my cheek. Naturally, my flesh burned and I screamed in pain. He used his non-fiery hand to cover my mouth and muffle my agony. And once that was done, he hoisted me up and shoved me against the wall.

"My father has files on everyone, living or dead, Hell-bound or not. I have your file in my locker at school. I was going to present it to him today to prove my point about you, but he never showed. If you'd like, I can take you to the scene of the crime. His body is still recognizable."

I shook my head at him, not really wanting to see a kid all bloodied up. He finally let go of me and back up, but I was still cornered. He went on to tell me how Todd died and that it was by the hand of some freakishly warped monster. He didn't seem to know that much about Johnny's condition or that stupid wall he always said he had to keep wet. So I explained it to him.

I told him that while Johnny and I were together, he told me all about some monster living behind a wall in his house. He had to keep the wall wet with blood or it would break out and do something unspeakable. I laughed at him then, not believing a word of it. But it must be true if Todd was really tortured as this punk had described.

"That damn maniac left his festering insanity to thrive in his abandoned shack for years now!"

This kid was pretty pissed and, well, I was still pretty shocked. Part of me was scared. I mean, this poser half my size just threw me to the ground and lit himself on fire and burned me. I was mortified that such a thing had happened to someone I knew, even if I didn't particularly know or like him very much. And then I was still furious about Tenna throwing my box out. This is turning out to be one Hell of a day.

And it apparently wasn't over either. Pepito, I think he said his name was, had grabbed me by the hand and started dragging me off. I demanded to know where I was being taken and all he said was that we were going to see his father. Why I had to go, I had no idea. I tried protesting, but he really gave me no choice.

"You know about this disgusting beast and you knew Todd. I intend to avenge his death and destroy this abomination before it kills more people."

"But you're the son of Satan. Don't you want to kill more people?"

"This thing isn't under my or my father's control. With a third party trying to stand between my father and God, it could cause too much unwanted destruction. We like chaos - chaos we have control over."

And with that, we were off. Fucking great.

* * *

"A/N: Jeez, I don't even like this story anymore. The idea is still good, but I'm not digging my writing style. I just hope that you guys like this, I promised you I'd finish it, and I most certainly will. Please leave me a review or something to let me know that this is even worth the effort, though. Please?"


	14. The Missing Nny - Part 1

"A/N: Yes, this is the next chapter. Basically, Pepito and Devi went to see Mr. Satan. Pepito twisted his arm and got his father to tell them about what happened to Johnny. Later chapters will tie everything together, I promise."

* * *

_April, 1997_

_Driving out past the city limits, Johnny C., also known as "Nny," rolled down his windows and embraced the cool night air. Cruising at about forty miles per hour, he let his eyes drift away from the road as he stared up at the heartless moon again. The highway stretched on for miles and he had to admit that this was quite different for him. He'd never really left the city before, only going up to the edge to look down on it. He always liked looking down on the rat-hole and shit-excuse for city he lived in. _

_Being out on the open highway, Johnny realized that he seemed to have been living in a dirty bubble for his entire life. The billboards and lit-up signs on either side of the road were bright and vibrant, instantly getting his attention. There were advertisements for new cars, casinos, and fast-food restaurants. The people on said ad's were smiling and looking genuinely happy, something completely unfamiliar to him. All of the signs a few miles back were for shitty dinners and porn shops._

_The streetlamps seemed to shine brighter, too. The road wasn't half as hard to see at night and the steady stream of traffic took away from the ominous and creepy atmosphere that usually surrounded the night owl drivers. The stars were harder to see, but that appeared to be the only setback. The air seemed cleaner – lighter, even – and breathing was easier. There didn't seem to be a proverbial blanket of bullshit hanging around and that actually brought a tiny smile to his face._

_He was finally out on the road, finally taking the push that Nailbunny had tried to give him to stand on his own and walk away. He was starting to refer back to his thoughts where he identified that that place had made him sick somehow. There had to be some truth to that, for having only been gone for about an hour now, he already felt like he was recovering. Maybe he didn't have to kill people, he thought. Maybe it was only where he was at that made him feel the need to do such crude and unforgiveable things._

_It wasn't long before Johnny approached the nearest city exit. He contemplated turning and getting off, but then he thought that just taking the nearest stop wouldn't be far enough away. No, he needed to be gone, completely removed from anywhere that anyone from his former life could run into him. He didn't want to risk the possibility of being identified. The police where he was from might not have bothered to track him down and arrest him, but he couldn't be sure that the authorities in other places would do the same. He could still be locked up for his heinous crimes. After all, murder has no statute of limitations._

_So he drove on, passing several more exit signs and offers for cheap motel rooms. Though he did start to wonder where he would be staying from now on, but it didn't bother him too much. After all, he was on a journey to find answers and get help. Being a creature that rarely slept, he figured he'd have no trouble staying awake and occupied until he found what he was looking for._

_But that posed an interesting question: Exactly how much would Johnny change after getting "help?" He was hoping to completely diminish his homicidal tendencies, lessen his irritability, become void of all emotion, and hopefully walk around as a functioning zombie. He wanted to keep his ability of higher intellect, not wanting to be completely rotted away and useless. That would actually be counterproductive. But then he had to wonder about the other possible side effects of any treatment he may receive. Was there any chance of him becoming… "normal?"_

_You know, the kind of person that sleeps regularly, eats __**real **__food, puts on weight because he won't exercise, dresses in jeans and sneakers, listens to mainstream music, gets' a- oh, dear God…_

_Johnny didn't want that kind of help. Despite whatever was wrong with him, he still preferred his other qualities. He liked being awake most of the time; it evaded the possibility of false hope and terrible nightmares. Eating hamburgers was just another way for people to gorge themselves with things they didn't need in order to feel better about themselves. Tight jeans and slender shoes, form-fitting shirts and men wearing "greasy" hair… it was all too sickening. He would rather wear his skinny black pants, high-rise steel toe boots, black t-shirts with creepy faces on them, and whatever jacket of his was handy. As for his hair, well, he was safe. There wasn't much to work with anymore._

_Coming up to a sign that read "S. 17__th__ St.," Johnny decided that now was the time for him to get off. He followed the tightly curved exit as it led him to a near-empty stoplight. No other cars were around him or behind him, and the traffic was practically nonexistent. Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, Johnny waited for the light to change. He waited, and he waited, and he waited, but nothing happened. So after about seven minutes of wasted time, Johnny checked the traffic and took off._

_The further down the street he got, the more cars and people he saw. Pretty soon, there was a swarm of young teenagers and kids in their twenties all lined up outside of some door. Glancing up at the front of the line, the sign read "Club Orgasma," and Johnny scoffed and floored it, wanting to be as far away from that place as possible. He figured he must have been downtown if that was the type of business operating at this hour. It was 2:30 in the morning, after all._

_Aside from being totally disgusted and repulsed, Johnny decided to keep driving. He needed to find a suitable location to park his car and wander around. He needed to find a gas station or something where people could give him directions and answer his questions. He needed to inquire about therapists and hospitals, or at least he thought he did. That seemed to be a good place to start, anyway._

_But his momentary bliss of being in a place he assumed to be far different from where had had come from was shattered when he pulled in to Cheap Gas & Stuff. He walked inside, approached the cashier, and she gave him that bug-eyed, scrutinizing, emo-freak look that screamed judgment. He bit his tongue and clenched his fists, trying to convince himself that one stupid bitch didn't define the entire city._

"_Hello, I was wondering if you could tell me where to get a map of this place? I'm new to the area."_

"_Could have fooled me."_

_She spoke with absolute disdain as she lazily pointed to the rack next to her register. Narrowing his eyes, Johnny stepped aside and pulled out the small guide. He opened it up and swept his eyes over it, finding key markers for hospitals and restaurants. Deciding that it would do, he returned to the ignorant woman and handed it to her. She sighed as she scanned the item, rolling her eyes and popping her gum loudly to annoy him. Why did she get all the freaks and weirdoes?_

_After buying the overpriced map, Johnny hurried out the door, proud of himself for not brutally slaying her on the spot. She might have been a pathetic excuse for a human being, but she didn't deserve to die so young. She should experience quite a few more years of sorrow and filth before being taken by some horrible and painful death._

_And as Johnny got back in his car and drove down the road, he wondered what kind of people awaited him when he arrived at his still unknown destination. He wondered if they would treat him as poorly as the woman at the gas station, but quickly cast aside such thoughts. He needed to change his perspective if he was going to be getting help, though it wouldn't be an overnight process._

_However, fate wouldn't give him the chance at a fresh start. It damned him for all of his past atrocities and inhumane treatment of living things. For while he was going through an intersection, another driver decided to speed through a stop sign and try and beat him, but it didn't work. A pair of headlights belonging to a beat-up, rusted, and terribly faded 1990 Toyota Corolla flashed in Johnny's side window, completely blinding him. And with no effort on the driver's part to hit the brakes, the shitty car sideswiped Johnny at approximately fifty miles an hour._

_And while his car skidded to a halt and veered off of the road and onto the sidewalk, Johnny was sent violently rolling down the street, crashing into several parked cars, ripping parking meters right out of the concrete, and finally settling wrapped around a telephone poll a few blocks away._

_The accident created a huge disturbance, for people came rushing out of their apartments, clubs, and local late-night businesses to see the commotion. They saw jagged and old car parts littering the street as the driver of the Corolla stumbled out of his car, drunk off his ass and high as a kite. He sustained a few scratches and probably a concussion from the impact of his air bag, but he appeared to be fine otherwise._

_Johnny was not so fortunate, for he was completely trapped in the driver's seat. His airbag failed to deploy, meaning that his head slammed forward and onto the steering wheel. His front windshield shattered, sending chunks and fragments of glass his way, each and every piece catching his skin and tearing at it. His left arm was lazily draped out of the driver's side window, while his right arm hung limply at his side after being forced from the steering wheel. The twisted metal from his door tore through his leg and locked him in place, while the rolling caused the car to be half-crushed, forcing his entire body down into his crammed seat._

_Blood leaked from his body like gasoline and oil leaked from his car and he looked like he had been tortured. One standby citizen had enough common sense to pull out their cell phone and call an ambulance and the sirens could be heard in the distance. Johnny drifted in and out of consciousness as he heard the buzzing chatter all around him. He tried to move his body, but the surge of ungodly pain caused him to lay still. Not like he would have gotten very far anyway. And all he could think before he blacked out again was: Did a place like this offer brainfreezy's?_

* * *

"A/N: This is the beginning for all of you who want to know what happened to Johnny. Don't worry, his story doesn't end here. Also, to clear up any confusion, events of the past will be written in italics.


	15. The Missing Nny - Part 2

_The bright lights were blinding and incredibly annoying. The surface below him was cold and he felt extremely light. His skin felt exposed, though he was not naked. He tried to focus his vision, but that was proving to be rather difficult. It didn't help that there was this incessant beeping noise directly to his right. He tried to stretch his arm out to touch the device responsible for his irritation, but recoiled in pain. For whatever reason, his entire arm burned and something warm dripped down to his fingertips. It felt thick and a little sticky, but he couldn't really see it. It wasn't until someone grabbed his arm and forced it back to his side that he became truly aware._

_"You need to remain still, sir. You've just been in a horrible accident." _

_An accident? He wondered what that was all about, he didn't remember anything. He felt a hand grip down on his arm and then a quick sting as something was inserted into him. Gritting his teeth, he quickly whipped his head to the side and saw a man in a white coat piercing him with a needle. He tried to get his attention and tell him to back off, but it was incredibly difficult to speak. Instead, he just mumbled incoherent phrases._

_"You shouldn't strain yourself so much. You hit your head pretty hard, talking might be difficult for awhile. Just relax."_

_Relax? Impossible! He didn't know where he was or what happened. As he squirmed around, he tried to search the pit of his mind and retrace his steps. He remembered driving away from his shithole of a hometown. It was night time, he was fairly certain. He arrived in some city that he couldn't recall the name of and went to a gas station. He picked up a map and there was this rude person working the register. Yes, that's right. He was proud of himself for not lashing out. Nothing dangerous yet._

_And then he drove around. Remaining details were fuzzy, but nothing really popped out at him. But the jolting wave of pain that just rushed through him told him that there was something important he was forgetting. He picked his brain some more, only picking up snippets of useless information. It wasn't until the man next to him started talking that he started remembering everything._

_"Listen, sir. I know speaking is difficult, so I want you to blink once for yes and twice for no. Do you know your name?"_

_Cooperating, Johnny blinked once in response._

_"Do you know where you are?"_

_Two blinks._

_"Alright then. You're at the hospital and my name is Dr. Basil. You've been in a car accident and have sustained multiple..."_

_Johnny tuned him out after hearing the words "hospital" and "doctor." There was no way he'd wound up in the emergency room. Flashes of the crash and the resonating sound of wailing sirens hit him like a tidal wave and he cursed the asshole that called for help. He couldn't be in a place like this! He just got here, he couldn't become acquainted with the medical staff just yet. He didn't know if this is where he wanted to stay or if he would keep moving from place to place for awhile yet. It was too soon to know!_

_His heart beat faster and blood continued to leak from his body like rain spewing from overflowing gutters. He let the adrenaline take control and pushed himself off what he found to be the operating table. Dr. Basil ordered him to lie back down, but Johnny would have nothing to do with it. He saw the syringe in his hands and snatched it from him, knowing full well that it was full of anesthetics. This guy was going to knock him out and perform horrible experiments on him! Or so he assumed._

_Leaping from the table and landing rather shakily on the ground, Johnny lunged forward and jabbed the needle into his neck. Pushing the medication in, the good doctor was now out cold. A nurse walked in not more than ten seconds later with some more equipment to hook up to him. She froze as she witnessed the damaged maniac hover over the doctor, empty syringe in hand. He turned quickly and glared daggers at her._

_"You think you can capture me and perform your wild experiments just like that! I'm no lab rat!"_

_Not understanding his delusions, she pressed the emergency button by the door and made a run for it. Grabbing some nearby equipment of his own, Johnny armed himself with a scalpel, scissors, and a drill. It wasn't much, but it would do._

_He gracelessly chased after the poor nurse, intending to stab her right in the heart. His prior rationale was arguing with his homicidal tendencies to quickly and painlessly kill everyone who got in his way of leaving. He needed to escape, to run away and move on. But if these foolish insects decided to be an obstacle, he would be left with no choice but to bulldoze his way through. Security guards, doctors, and nurses, it mattered not. He would not be stopped._

_He had just about caught up to the terrified nurse when he was blindsided and tackled. He didn't bother to identify his attacker, he quickly rolled and shoved the scissors into his neck. When the man fell off from on top of him, Johnny pushed himself back up. Unfortunately, his original target was nowhere in sight._

_A swarm of people could be seen retreating down the hall. He assumed that they were patients and other unarmed staff who had no intention of interacting with him. However, the lovely officers in the other direction did. Readying his drill, he clicked the button and listened to the bit swirl round and round. Scalpel in the other hand, he made a break for the nearest door while the officers charged him._

_They ordered him to halt and drop his weapons, but he ordered them to fuck off. He blitzed an officer with a gun and forced the drill into his skull. It took a lot of force and energy, but the man fell quickly and bled out all over the tile floor. In the next instant, Johnny had thrown the scalpel, nailing another officer in the leg. But his game would end here, for as he was trying to remove the drill from the officer's head, another one finally had the sense to aim and shoot him. _

_The bullet lodged itself in his shoulder, causing Johnny to lurch back in pain. He fell back into the wall, sliding down it as he applied pressure to his wound. The adrenaline vanished as quickly as it came and the pain from his accident came crashing back down on him like a plane dive-bombing from the sky. His eyes widened and he coughed up some blood. It hurt so bad that he couldn't even scream. His nerves were on fire and it was the first time all night that he realized just how badly he was hurt._

_Blood soaked him from head to toe as he realized that most of it was his. How he had carried himself about the way he did was beyond him. His vision blurred again as he entered a coughing fit, but he was able to make out the dozen or so officers surrounding him, guns loaded and aimed. The noise and panic around him died down into a dull roar and he knew then that he was falling unconscious. He didn't want to. He wanted to keep on fighting, make his escape, and never look back at this Godforsaken place._

_Or maybe it was just him. Maybe this city had known of God before he arrived. Maybe this place wasn't as bad as he thought, but his presence had somehow changed everything. Does that mean that he should surrender and let them cut him open? They could be trying to repair him, he mused. Or was this all some sort of trap or witchcraft? They could very well be trying to harvest his organs and fuse his body with that of a stray beagle! Was that even possible yet?_

_His mind wandered and swayed with all the so-called possibilities of his rescue or demise, but it wasn't long before he felt another sharp sting of a needle. He felt as if his once heavy and weighed down body was now becoming extremely light. His eyes refused to open and he felt his head drop. His last conscious thoughts became disoriented and a jumbled mess. He was now successfully sedated._

_The hospital staff made a mad dash to help all of those injured by the deranged patient, while others wheeled the dead down to the morgue. Dr. Basil was treated immediately and placed in an empty room to recover. Files were ravaged through and phone calls were made. Families were notified and the crying began. This place would be a zoo with upset loved ones and several media channels in no time at all._

_But before anyone could do anything else, Johnny was strapped down to a gurney and wheeled off to the emergency operating room. Despite his actions, the staff was obligated to do everything they could to save his life. They went into emergency surgery and held him in the operating room for several plus hours. It took a miracle, but they managed to stabilize him. And once all of that was done and over with, they placed their last phone call._

_"Hello, Wacky Shack Institute. How may I help you?"_

_"Yes, this is Angeline Dorval from Merth County Hospital. Can you send your next available driver to pick up a patient of ours?"_

_"What seems to be the problem?"_

_"He just attempted to slaughter half a dozen people after being in a car wreck. He's not mentally stable."_

_"Well, in that case, we'll be right over."_

* * *

"A/N: I wasn't even planning on updating this again so soon, but I couldn't get a good enough idea to write for anything else. So here is part two of the three part story of what happened to Nny. Next chapter will tie everything together, I promise. Hope you enjoyed this, please leave me some reviews. It's the only thing that motivates me to keep writing this."


	16. The Missing Nny - Part 3

"A/N: From here on out this story will be REVISED. Looking back, I absolutely despise how this was written. I will go back after the story is complete and rewrite the first 15 chapters, but for now, I shall continue. I apologize if the change in style is a bother, but I promised this would be complete, and so it shall."

* * *

_There was something unnerving about waking up to a dimmed white room. Particularly twice in a row, to add more to the point. A set of dulled brown eyes lazily swept over his surroundings, however limited that vision might be. It felt as if his entire head had been strapped down and there were some very cold and uncomfortable restraints pressing into his flesh. He attempted to grit his teeth to emphasize his frustration, but it was to no avail. His entire body was lifeless._

_He desperately commanded his brain to send signals to the rest of him to move. To lift his arm, kick his leg, wiggle his toes - anything! But he couldn't so much as even contract his muscles, let alone muster up enough strength to do something as strenuous as twitch. It just wasn't in him. But he had to wonder, with all that being known, how he had managed to open his eyes. He didn't even remember blinking them open, painfully taking in the hazardously bright light directly above him. When did that happen?_

_But then there was this feeling. It was different from the cold metal and leather that he could unfortunately recognize. It was soft and warm, almost suffocating, as he discovered its placement. Something of a cotton origin had wound up draped over his mouth and nose, stopping just short of his eye sockets, but that was all he could feel. For whatever reason, his eyes refused to strain themselves downward to get a good look. He was only able to assume that whatever it was, it was probably white, too._

_But that was all beside the point. Johnny took what he thought was a strained and harsh breath as he dove into his memories for a recount of the past twenty-four hours. He remembered waking up at the county hospital and all the doctors and nurses present in his room. There was a table at his bedside with the same medical instruments that he would sometimes use on his own victims. Had he let them live, he often wondered how mortified they would be to go to a hospital to seek treatment with the very objects he tormented them with. The thoughts made him inwardly giggle._

_And then he lashed out. The details were fuzzy, albeit unimportant to him. He killed the doctor, ran after the nurse, and tangoed with some security. A throb emitted from his shoulder to remind him of his downfall, but the events after that were missing entirely. He didn't have the foggiest idea as to what happened next, but it all led up to him being here. Wherever here was, that is. And now he was immobile, abruptly uncomfortable, and felt like his entire being was being scrubbed with doom. Disaster oozed from the recesses of his mind as he swore he heard a nearby door open. And although his eyes would not drift in its direction, the shadow of his visitor loomed over him anyway._

_Another fucker in a lab coat._

_Though much of his face was shrouded by the hanging light overhead, Johnny could still identify some key features of his guest. He had shaggy brown locks, a dark oak color to be more specific, with strands of gray mixed in between. It was assumed that he was in his mid-to-late forties, what with the hair and wrinkly face. He had incredibly dark bags under his eyes, and despite whatever color they may be, Johnny could only see red. This man supposedly blessed with God's healing grace was revealing himself as Satan's incarnate. Johnny no longer cared about what he actually looked like, for it was obvious that he was going to bring about nothing but misery and destruction. Excruciating, dragged-out malevolence. _

_The maniac took a moment to appreciate the irony of the situation. He supposed that karma must be real, the only certain force in the universe aside from death, for him to have found himself here. He was a man, guilty or not, ripped from the streets and forcefully restrained in his own version of a house of horrors. He was a plaything for whoever walked through the door and a dummy to be experimented on for their own sick and twisted "justifiable" reasons. He was a prisoner, a captured and caged animal, a victim to his own game. He had to conclude that irony and fate were two best friends taking turns kicking the metaphorical puppy that was himself. How deliciously cynical._

_But all traces of humor aside, Johnny would much rather __**not **__be poked and prodded, possibly even sliced open. It just didn't sound like a fun way to start his day. Or night. He had no concept of time at the moment. But the good doctor spat out some incoherent words, to him or someone else, he was unsure, and then the door clicked shut. When had someone else entered? Did they knock first?_

_A warm hand greeted his face as the doctor used his index finger to pull up Johnny's right eyelid. Next, a sharp and unpleasant looking device was held up and was slowly descending above his eyeball. The maniac panicked, trying harder now than ever to move his limbs. Any sort of motion would be helpful, any at all, but none would come. He was unaware, but aside from the restraints that did such a fine job of locking him down, Johnny had been given a sedative that was clearly only doing half of its job._

_His muscles were completely lax, not a bit of tension or flexation to be found. His body felt like jelly and brain might as well have been mush. He seemed to only be able to form thoughts, and his autonomic nervous system seemed to be the only other free functioning part of his body. As much as he thought he should be sweating, breathing heavily, chocking on his own vomit, or slamming his bloodshot eyes shut, he couldn't. Instead, his body lay motionless, lungs expanding and deflating as he breathed even, and his heart rate was even steady. _

_Of course, that all changed as soon as the presumed ice pick was wedged above his eye and below his frontal lobe and a light yet ridiculously painful tapping commenced. The dual-purposed tool was being hammered into his skull, the intent to clearly break bone. It was only then that his heart rate increased, though only slightly, while his mind could only register the sensation of pure pain._

_And he was picked at, the device plunging further into his skull until the bone was shattered. A light tune could be heard being hummed from the operator as he proceeded to swish the pick around. Johnny could only inwardly cry and howl as his nerves were being hacked away at. He could feel the disconnection happening as the frontal lobe of his brain was being torn away from his thalamus. The searing and raw agony could only be described as indescribable. This was an ache that no one should ever have to feel. Though, he knew that he had done this very procedure on several occasions. He truly was a sick little monster._

_The operation that only lasted for several minutes felt like several years to Johnny as the doctor proceeded to gnash at his other eye. Should he recover from such a horrifyingly traumatic event, he swore revenge on this sadistic asshole first. By all the evil and hatred that swelled within him, he promised to inflict the most heartbreaking and long-lasting impressions of unbearable suffering on this wretched creature who dared to call himself a man! That was a vow he did not take lightly._

_But alas, as the procedure came to a close, Johnny lost a good deal of semi-logical thought. He was fighting, frantically trying to remember where his thoughts last left off at. What sort of awful scheme must he have been hatching and how could he so quickly have forgotten? Where had the feelings of rage and violence sprung so harshly from that they threatened to take over his very being? He couldn't recall being angry, especially not to this extent. Wouldn't one remember such things?_

_His memory was completely shot, the ice pick doing its job of separating his lobe. The idea was that he would lose his memory, lose his ability to judge and plan, and all ability for higher motor function. A procedure like this was designed to stupefy maniacal and crazed men like him. If they can take away your ability to act, think, and remember, then you would somehow become complacent and "normal."_

_A reality like that could never exist for the criminally insane mastermind. A life without bloodshed and sleepless nights was a luxury he would always be denied. For once the doctor had made his final flick of the wrist, all was lost. Johnny's heart monitor beeped like a kid who forgot to take their ADHD medicine was ringing a doorbell. As his rate increased, his body convulsed, and he had one last bit of bodily feeling. Tears poured like waterfalls down his face involuntarily as his body contorted and heaved. It was his final movement before flat-lining._

_The doctor scurried around the room, pressing buttons, paging nurses, and seeking out syringes with futile liquids. The operating room was chaotic in a mad rush to keep the killer alive, but it was all in vain. It was always in vain. _

_And so, to conclude the events of such a horrifying day, it was with a not-so-heavy heart that the Wacky Shack Institute had to deposit one said body of a Mr. Johnny C. to the morgue. Despite not being a John Doe, the facility had no means of contacting anyone to identify the body, no family to notify, and no one to release a death certificate to. The creepy morgue slave would perform an autopsy, a half-assed one, seeing as how his very place of employment had caused the death, and lock his body in the freezer. If no one stepped forward, his body would be carelessly tossed out into some abandoned graveyard with an unmarked tombstone. _

_And it would be there that his mangled corpse would be free from the piss of the unruly teenagers of his hometown. His spirit, wherever it had ended up, would smile at that fact. Looks like he got a happy ending after all._

* * *

"A/N: So, yeah. I much prefer this style of writing to how this was previously written. Honestly, I'm embarrassed that I ever thought what I had done was good. Anywho, I apologize for the incredibly long absence. I hope this update was good enough to make up for it. Johnny's suspense is all over now, you know what happened. Should only be a few more chapters before I tie up this story and start rewriting it. So, yeah, leave me a review and let me know that you all still exist/care."


	17. Truth and Death

Hearing stories about Johnny always reminded me of the more demented things in life. The recollection of the Doughboys and Nailbunny were the first twisted things that came to mind. I only vaguely remember him telling me about them. How the Doughboys would tug him back and forth between life and death, while Nailbunny played mediator. He was... fuck, what was he? Johnny's voice of reason, or something like that.

But I never told him about my own bundle of crazy. Sickness wasn't born until after I beat the Hell out of him and left him in his house to die. I wouldn't have felt bad either. I mean, the prick attacked me and tried to kill me. All for the sake of 'immortalizing the moment,' preserving a still in time of the happiest moment he could remember. Too bad he couldn't see what a lunatic he was until several months later.

I looked over to where Pepito was sitting - an uncomfortable wooden kitchen chair directly across from his father - and eyeballed him. His eyes were narrowed, barely slits to see his piercing red eyes from, and his fists were balled so tight that his knuckles turned white. His body shook slightly and his tangled black excuse for a head of hair started to fall into his face. If you took away the miniscule horns and ignored the color of his eyes, Pepito actually looked worthy of sympathy. I mean, the kid went and found his best friend's mutilated corpse, and now he learns that the man whom he had held responsible died within a couple days of taking his 'vacation.'

And in all honesty, aside from the tidal wave of relief that I feel from knowing that Johnny is dead (permanently), I did feel kind of bad. Todd wasn't a bad kid, despite how annoying he was. He didn't deserve death, despite how questionable his friends were. What was he doing hanging around with the son of Satan, anyway? Did he think that this kid would protect him from bullies or something? If so, he did a real shitty job.

But then Pepito slammed his fists on the table as he quickly stood up, eyes still narrowed, and he glared daggers across the room. "If that pathetic sack-of-skin has been dead for years now, then what's been feeding that _thing _inside his house? Father, you told me that everything he created fed off of his insanity!" Created? He _made _those abominations? That makes absolutely no sense! Why the fuck would anyone make something so-!

"I can tell what you're thinking, my dear. Do not be so surprised. Johnny was a sick boy, he didn't know what he was doing or how to stop it. Yes, he did create everything - the Doughboys, Nailbunny, Reverend Meat, and the monster that killed young Todd - but it wasn't consciously. I'm sure you're aware of his criminally insane background? He wasn't alright in the head, if you understand, and it caused him to erect creatures of the utmost ridiculous nature to allow him to verbally or physically berate objects that were really there. Everything in his house, I'm afraid, is a product of his own sick and twisted rationality."

I sat in my chair, uncomfortable and fidgeting. It made more sense that way, whether I liked it or not. I knew that Johnny had a few screws loose when we got together, but I'd had no idea just how bad he was. But the churning and nausea-inducing feeling in my gut was coming from somewhere else. I could handle the fact that those two were dead. It wasn't all that bothersome, albeit unnecessary for Todd. Though, after hearing in far too much detail about how Johnny died, I'm glad Pepito didn't describe Todd's corpse, let alone drag me to Johnny's basement to see it. But even that wasn't so bad. No, this feeling was stemming from something deeper...

"We need to know how to stop this thing, Father. I don't know what's feeding it, or how it's survived as long as it has, but we have to destroy it. It is something beyond our control!" Pepito let off between grit teeth. It looked like he was doing everything in his power to keep from exploding into a fiery rage. And I had to imagine that that was something both natural for him and something he was exceedingly good at. Though, this feeling, it's coming from...

_"Insanity comes in more forms than one. He's criminal, while you're... a manic."_

_Oh, my..._

_"You'll suffer his fate."_

I stood abruptly from my seat, recalling Sickness's words from earlier. I wasn't sure why, but she had mentioned Johnny awhile ago. She was the one who told me that he was criminally insane. She was the one who brought all this up. She must have known it would come to this, but- how? How did she... no... where is she now? If she started this shit-storm, then I'll make her end it, too. Wherever she is, I'll find her. The garbage men only picked her up today, so she couldn't be far.

I grabbed my coat from the back of my chair and quickly slipped into it. Then I bolted to the front door, stepped into my boots, and ran like a bat out of Hell. I was only mildly surprised that no one tried to stop me. I was pretty certain that Pepito would have grabbed my wrist so hard that it would leave a bruise and forcibly strap me to my chair. But he didn't even look at me when I stood up, let alone trailed after me as I ran away. But I couldn't complain. I suppose I'm still doing what he wants, anyway, seeing as how if I find Sickness, I can put an end to all of this. That was the theory anyway.

But while I was out running around, Pepito was still conversing with Satan. Laying his palms flat on the table and tossing his head to the side to move his unruly locks, Pepito said, "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you? That Todd had to die like that?" The lack response was all he needed to hear. Spurts and bits of fire wrapped around his frame as Pepito lost more and more control over himself. The pain and anger that swelled up inside of him was ready to overflow and burst from his tiny body. But Satan just smirked, finding the anguish amusing. He hadn't counted on his son getting that attached to the human boy.

"Son, you asked me before. Do you still want to know what's feeding that monster?" A nod from the head was his curt reply. "The Wall Monster, as Johnny had so cleverly dubbed it, was created from everything left of him after the Doughboys and Nailbunny were born. The rest of the emotion, conflict, struggle, strife, and insanity gave birth to it. While Johnny was convinced that it fed off the blood he painted the wall with, it was actually the insanity behind his murders that did it. The murder and violent crimes were the core to him being criminally insane versus just insane. And that's how he survived for so long."

"But when he died, there was nothing left in his house to sustain it. And had Johnny not known Todd or Devi, it would have either let loose on the city or died off years ago. Instead, Johnny became fond of Todd, his unfortunate neighbor, and developed strong feelings for Devi, the former bookstore lady. And isn't it funny how three people, three so very different people, wound up meeting? I suppose that Lady Luck wasn't on their side."

"In any case, when Johnny left, the creature didn't have to go far to feed. The tunnels between his and Todd's house gave him easy access to all the mental chaos swirling around from upstairs. This is where things get heartbreaking son, so listen well: It was Todd who fed that beast." Pepito's eyes widened, his metaphorical heart dropped, and his face was completely blank. "He was crazy from the beginning. You wouldn't have thought anything of it when he was younger; after all, it's normal for children to talk to their toys. However, as he got older, such behavior continued. It was not normal."

"The bear, Shmee, was something even you were familiar with. Didn't you find it odd that he kept bringing it to school with him? That he kept talking to it? Didn't it raise any red flags when he said that it talked back to him? Pepito, this is something even you should have noticed. Todd filled that bear with all of his fears and feelings of malice and malevolence. Ever wonder why he seemed like the only decent human being in the world? It's because he filled that bear with everything that made him just like everyone else."

Pepito didn't want to listen anymore. He didn't want to hear about how fucked up his amigo was, or how he should have noticed his demise sooner. How he could have done something, perhaps, and he'd still be alive. But he needed to know. Deep down, he knew that only the truth would put him at ease. In the future, that is.

"But that stuffed toy was small. It overflowed when Todd and his family moved into that house. And with Johnny's loud and demanding insanity distracting the creature, it hadn't noticed Todd until after he moved. When it was alone in that house, Todd emitted delightful waves of vulnerability, fear, and destruction. Whatever label you want to slap on him, that was the core of his disease. So why did it kill him, I'm sure you're wondering."

"Contrary to popular belief, Johnny was stabilized. Still undeniably crazy, but it was stable. Johnny would always be crazy, always find a reason to kill people. He had no faith in humanity, no family to turn to, no friends aside from Todd, and nowhere to run. He was a waste lock and that damned him to that house, to live with that monster, for the rest of his miserable existence. His escape was surprising, unplanned, and a horrible mishap, but it was indeed part of reality. So you see, my boy, that if Johnny hadn't left, Todd would still have lived. Who knows what kind of person he would have turned out to be, but I feel that the result would have been even more disappointing and disgusting than his untimely death."

"But Devi, now she's something else. She was only a brief part of Johnny's life, she'd only been to his house on a few occasions, but the lunacy radiating off of her is strong. The creature caught on to her disturbed persona right away. Devi is a manic, her overwhelming fear and overbearing pissy attitude made for quite the unstable person. With that in mind, I have no doubt that she'll be the next victim."

With his head down and his body still shaking, Pepito said, "Will her death put a stop to this unwanted madness?" And with a smirk and a cackle, Satan said, "It certainly won't hurt it."

* * *

"A/N: And here we have another chapter. This story should be wrapped up within another two or three chapters, I think. So, yeah, stay tuned, and hopefully I'll have this finished by the end of June (at the latest, I hope). Review?"


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